BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater College men’s basketball team held off Juniata 55-40 on Monday evening.

Final Score: Bridgewater 55, Juniata 40
Records: Bridgewater 6-4, Juniata 0-9

How It Happened
• Bridgewater struck first with an Aaron Oates bucket before the teams traded scores to open the contest at a 4-4 deadlock. Oates put BC back in front at 6-4 to send the home side on a 7-0 run where Juniata as held without a point for six minutes and change.
• Juniata got a score from Tre Yawn to end the run, but the momentum was only stopped momentarily as a second-chance effort from Jordan Cooper extended the lead. Bridgewater got a stop on the defensive end and Maleek Richardson bullied his way through the lane for the score to push the lead to nine at 15-6. BC stretch the scoring run all the way to 14-0 thanks to seven points from Cooper over the span as a Mason hardy layup ended the scoring run and ended a seven-minute scoring drought for Juniata. Hardy made one of two at the charity stripe with 3:45 to go in the half and neither tea scored the rest of the frame to send the game to the intermission at 25-9.
• The two sides traded scores to open the second stanza, until a floater by Cooper stretch the gap to 31-14 just north of three minutes into the half. Juniata made a pair of free throws, but two buckets from Richardson pushed the lead to 19 points five minutes into the half forcing a JC timeout. The lead hovered at 19 until JC scored on back-to-back trips to cut into the lead. Khalil Ward knocked own a mid-range jumper to split up the Juniata scoring spree, but a score on the other end for the visitors made it 39-26 with 9:22 to play.
• BC replied to the Juniata offensive push with an exclamation point. Woody Machado found himself deep in the nearside corner with the shot clock nearing its expiration. The sophomore let off a desperation heave and drained it. If that wasn’t enough, Machado flew down the floor and blocked a layup in transition to keep the lead at 16 points. Juniata cut the lead to 12, but three long-range buckets from Will Dunlap stretch the lead out to 51-36 with 2:33 to play. The two sides traded stops and scores over the game’s final two minutes and change to take the contest to a 55-40 final.

Game Notes
• Cooper led Bridgewater offensively with 11 points in a team effort. Richardson tied his career-high with 10 points, while Dunlap added nine and Machado tallied eight.
• Hardy led all scorers with 14 points highlighted by six makes at the charity stripe. Juniata was held to 26.3% from the field and was 1-of-20 from three-point land.
• Bridgewater won the rebounding battle 44-35 led by 11 boards from Oates in his fourth game with double-digit rebounds of the year. Dunlap also helped the rebounding battle with a career-best nine boards.

Up Next
The Eagles head south to take on No. 25 Guilford on Friday at 5 p.m. in their final game before the holidays.

— BC Athletics —