LYNCHBURG, Va. (BC Athletics) – The Bridgewater College men’s basketball team fell late to Lynchburg 73-71 on Wednesday night in the program’s ODAC opener.

Final Score: Lynchburg 73, Bridgewater 71
Records: Bridgewater 4-3 (0-1 ODAC), Lynchburg (5-2, 1-0 ODAC)

How It Happened
• Lynchburg opened the game with a 4-0 advantage before a Will Dunlap got the Eagles on the board. The Hornets responded with a four-point play to make it an 8-2 edge and kept it that way after a trade of three-pointers. Lynchburg continued to thrive from deep and have replies to every BC score to stretch the lead out to 18-9 five minutes in. Back-to-back buckets from Maleek Richardson and Jordan Cooper gave the BC offense life, but then neither team scored for nearly two minutes before the home side pushed the lead back out to nine at 25-16 with 9:16 to play in the half.
• A three-pointer from Richardson gave the Eagles’ offense life allowing BC to pull within two possessions. Lynchburg replied, but a Woody Machado three-pointer slice the gap to five with 6:38 on the clock. After another trade of makes, the home side went on a 7-2 run capped off by another make from beyond the arc to give the Hornets their largest lead of the night at 37-27. BC caught fire from deep in response as RK Law and Will Vetter drilled long-range jumpers to go along with an Aaron Oates free throw to pull to within three at 37-34 with 90 seconds left in the half. Lynchburg got the last laugh on a trade of buckets at the end of the frame to take a 41-36 lead to the locker room.
• The Hornets opened the second half on a 4-0 scoring spree, but a layup by Cooper stifled the run momentarily. The Hornets made a pair at the stripe in response and eventually stretched the gap back to 10 at 51-41 three minutes into the frame forcing a BC timeout. Lynchburg scored out of the stoppage, but another Oates three-pointer stopped the momentum swing. BC closed the gap back to seven at 57-50 after a Ward bucket, but Lynchburg responded with a make to push it back to a 59-50 ballgame.
• Cooper knocked down a three-pointer to get the lead back down to two possessions and BC exploded from there on a 17-1 run over four minutes to take a 67-60 lead after a Cooper dunk with 8:27 to play. Cooper pushed the lead out to 71-62 with 6:12 to go after a score off of a Lynchburg turnover, but the Hornets knocked down a three-pointer on the next possession to go on a 9-0 run over a 5:11 span to tie the game with 1:01 to go. BC took a timeout and Oates got a shot off but it was blocked and led to a turnover on a shot clock violation. The Hornets got the ball back with 28 seconds to play and got a score with 18 seconds to play to take the lead back at 73-71. BC got down the floor and took a timeout. Cooper took a shot from deep on the near wing and had it blocked out of bounds with 2.4 seconds to go. The inbound pass went to Oates and he was able to get a shot off through contact but it wouldn’t go.

Match Notes
• Cooper led BC offensively with a game-high 23 points. Oates tallied a double-double for the Eagles with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
• Jamarcus Brown led Lynchburg with 14 points as three different Hornets scored in double figures.
• Both teams shot well from the floor as Lynchburg held a slight 50.0% to 48.2% edge. The Eagles shot 47.8% from beyond the arc with 11 makes from beyond the arc while also holding a 28-26 edge on the glass.

Up Next
The Eagles return home to host Shenandoah on Saturday at 2 p.m. presented by Domino’s Pizza.

— BC Athletics —