LEXINGTON, Va. - Washington and Lee opened the second half with a 12-2 spurt to open up a 15-point lead and the Generals went on to post a 75-66 victory over the Bridgewater Eagles in Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's basketball action Saturday afternoon.
Both teams struggled offensively early in the contest. A 3-pointer by Bridgewater's Kenneth Waugh tied the score at 10-10 at the 12:05 mark but Clay McLean swished a 3-pointer to put the Generals on top 13-10. McLean's three started a 16-5 run that pushed the Generals to an 11-point lead.
The Eagles reeled the Generals back in with a 7-0 spurt to pull within four. Zach Hunter knocked down a 3-pointer and Daniel McClain hit a baseline jumper, making the score 26-20. Hunter then added two free throws to pull the Eagles within four.
Kevin Gill's 3-pointer put W&L ahead by seven before Bridgewater's Ed Reddick and W&L's Darren Douglass traded layups, keeping the Generals ahead 31-24.
A short jumper by Aaron Adams closed out the first-half scoring and sent the Eagles to the break trailing by five points, 31-26.
After playing man defense in the first half, the Generals opened the second half in a 2-3 zone and the Eagles' could not find an answer at the offensive end.
After Tavis Stapleton hit two free throws, the Generals reeled off 12 straight points to take a 43-28 lead. W&L forward Andrew Franz sparked the W&L surge, scoring eight points.
The Eagles were unable to penetrate the sagging 2-3 zone and were forced to fire away from long range for much of the second half. Bridgewater took 27 of its 40 shots in the second half from 3-point range.
W&L (6-13, 3-7 in the ODAC) led by as many as 17 points in the second half. Adams and Hunter tried to shoot the Eagles back into contention and when Adams hit a 3-pointer at the 5:10 mark the deficit was down to seven, 60-53.
Franz then scored on a nice post move and Jim Etling added two foul shots to expand the W&L lead to 11. Hunter scored from deep to cut the lead to eight, but Douglas answered with a 3-ball and Patrick O'Connor scored on a layup to put the Generals up 69-56 with 2:18 left.
Adams made 6-of-8 shots, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range to lead the Eagles (9-9, 4-6 in the ODAC) with a season-high 18 points. Hunter connected on 5-of-10 shots, including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc to add a career-high 16 points.
McLean paced the Generals with a perfect shooting performance. He connected on all five of his shots, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range. He added a 6-for-6 effort at the foul line to finish with 19 points. Drew Kimberly scored 15 points and Franz added 11.
The Generals owned a 38-34 edge on the boards with Kimberly completing a double-double with 11 rebounds. Stapleton pulled down nine rebounds for the Eagles.
The Eagles shot just 35.8 percent from the floor (24-of-67) while the Generals shot 45.7 percent (21-of-46). W&L made 8-of-16 shots from 3-point range.