VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Virginia Wesleyan College opened up a 10-point lead early in the second half and held off several Bridgewater runs down the stretch to defeat the Eagles, 77-73, Saturday afternoon in ODAC men's basketball action.

"I'm not into moral victories, but I'm proud of the way the guys played," BC head coach Don Burgess said. "They played with passion and pride. We went on the road to the house of the No. 18 team in the country and fought and went toe-to-toe with them."

The Eagles got off to a fast start, opening up a 10-point, 15-5, lead in the first five minutes of action. The Marlins whittled away at the deficit and eventually took a two-point, 28-26, lead at the half.

Virginia Wesleyan, ranked No. 18 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, increased its halftime lead to 10 early in the second half, but were unable to put the Eagles away.

Bridgewater stayed within striking distance and cut the margin to two, 62-60, on a jumper by Kordero Thompson, with 6:38 left to play.

The Marlins pushed the margin back to seven, but the Eagles made one more push and again cut the lead to two, this time on a Jake Johnson bucket with 2:29 left to play.

That would be as close as the Eagles could get as the Marlins held on for the four-point victory.

Dominic Trawick led three Eagles in double figures with 25 points. Cody Griffith scored a career-high 14 points, his second straight game in double figures, and Jake Johnson added 11.

Stephen Fields led the Marlins with 28 points and Donald Vaughn added 21.

"There were times in the second half when it was Trawick vs. Fields," Burgess said. "Both of those guys had excellent games. We had some other guys step tonight. Jake and Cody both played well. Kordero Thompson really got after them at the defensive end.

"We did a lot of good things, things we can build on. We can be a very good team if we can get to the point where we can play consistently and aggressively at both ends of the court."

Vaughn led the Marlins to a slight, 37-34, advantage on the boards as he completed his double-double with 13 rebounds. Segar Jordan led the Eagles with seven boards.

Bridgewater is now 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the ODAC while the Marlins improve to 10-1, 2-1 in the conference.

Things do not get any easier for the Eagles in their next outing as they host No. 4 ranked Randolph-Macon College on Monday at Nininger Hall.