BRIDGEWATER, Va. — The Bridgewater College men’s basketball team fell to No. 2 Randolph-Macon 83-67 on Senior Day.

Final Score: No. 2 Randolph-Macon 83, Bridgewater 67
Records: Bridgewater 11-10, 6-6 ODAC; No. 2 Randolph-Macon 21-1, 13-0 ODAC

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Alec Topper opened the scoring with a turn-around jumper, but Josh Talbert quickly responded for Randolph-Macon with a step-back jumper of his own to even the game early. Shod Smith made a pair at the charity stripe the next trip down the floor for the home side, yet again the Yellow Jackets had an answer, a 17-0 run.

• Bridgewater ended the scoring drought with another set of free throws from Smith and followed with an Aaron Oates layup to try and build some momentum. Talbert knocked down another jumper, but on the other end Smith found Oates for a three-pointer to spark a 12-4 run for the home side with seven points from Oates. Landon Hawes capped the run off with triple to make it 25-20 with 6:32 remaining in the first half. R-MC responded with a second chance layup from Miles Mallory, but Topper drained a jumper from long range to put the Eagles back to within four points. The Yellow Jackets responded with a big basket from Mallory but clutch free throws from Smith and Caswell kept the Eagles in the ballgame, trailing 35-30 at the break.

• R-MC opened the second half with a 16-4 run to take 51-34 lead with 15:11 to go. Bridgewater bounced back with two quick steals and two quick buckets from Smith to get the crowd back into the contest forcing Coach Merkell to call a timeout. The Yellow Jackets scored out of the stoppage, but Bridgewater kept the train moving with consecutive triples from Pack and Caswell. Caswell knocked down two free throws to make it a 53-46 contest with just over 12 minutes left to play.

• Both teams traded buckets before Talbert took over for the defending national champions down the stretch. R-MC closed the game outscoring BC 22-15 down the stretch and leading by as much as 20 in the second half to hold on to win.

MATCH FACTS
• Pack and Smith led Bridgewater offensively with 14 points each. Smith added five helpers and Pack racked up three assists as well.

• Talbert scored a game-high 21 and Mallory added 18 along with nine rebounds.

• Topper grabbed nine rebounds for BC to stay even with Mallory in rebounds per conference contest.

• Randolph-Macon grabbed 18 offensive rebounds leading to 16 second chance points, while the home side only had five boards on the offensive glass and four second chance points to show for it.

• Bridgewater shot 18/19 from the charity stripe compared to just 8/14 for the visiting side.

UP NEXT
The Eagles are back in action for a rematch with Washington and Lee on Wednesday night for their final home contest of the regular season. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. with BSN/Nike giveaways sponsored by Bridgewater Athletics.

— BC Athletics —