Bridgewater, Va.- On Jan. 10, the men’s Bridgewater basketball team lost to Hampden- Sydney in a tough game for the Eagles with the final score being 78-57.
The game started off with the Tigers getting the first score, off of a putback layup to send Hampden-Sydney up two. Senior Alec Topper then came up big on the defensive end, by blocking a shot, and coming up with a big steal that led to Junior Will Dunlap hitting a three pointer.
With 13:33 remaining in the half, H-SC led seven points after scoring on their next three offensive possessions. With back-to-back three-pointers, juniors RK Law and Joseph Crenshaw led the Eagles to a 14–11 score. After freshman Jordan Cooper dished one to freshman Woody Machado, BC took their first lead of the game, 15–14, at the 10-minute mark.
The Eagles and the Tigers started trading bucket after bucket right up until the halfway point. Then, the Tigers seemed to catch rhythm and managed to gain a 29-19 lead with 3:26 left. Junior Aaron Oates came into the game and made his impact known right away by drilling a much needed three pointer for the Eagles.
Oates said, “We needed some way to slow their run, so that’s what I did.”
Then, as they say, defense led to offense, as freshman Jordan Cooper came up with a steal and was able to take it the distance, throwing one down to get the crowd into the game. This helped Bridgewater go into the half down eight with a 33-25 scoreline.
Cooper came out in the second half just like how he ended the first half, hitting a three to kickstart the Eagles’ offense and bring them within five.
Cooper said, “I wanted to come out and give a spark in the second half.”
Hampden-Sydney, on the other hand, continued to have success scoring the ball with Adam Brazil scoring on consecutive possessions pushing the lead back out to 44-35. The Tigers then put on a 16-5 run giving them a big 60-41 lead with a little over ten minutes left to go in the game.
Topper attempted to cut into the deficit by hitting a shot beyond the arc, but the Tigers’ potent offense and defense proved to be too much for the Eagles to overcome. Late in the second half, Cooper drove in for a layup, giving BC another huge basket. H-SC won 78-57 by using an aggressive finish to the game.
