BRIDGEWATER, Va. - Randolph College rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat the Bridgewater College Eagles, 74-73, Thursday night in the conference opener for both squads.

Randolph's Derrick Woods-Morrow made two free throws with 7.6 left to give the WildCats the lead and Eagles were unable to get off a shot in the closing seconds.

"That was a disappointing loss to a good Randolph team," Bridgewater head coach Don Burgess said. "We shoot 52 percent, only turned it over 13 times and battled them even on the boards. On paper, it looks like we should have won the game. But we needed to win the game on the defensive end and we weren't able to get stops when we needed them." 

The Eagles opened the second half with a 16-8 flurry to take a 10-point lead. Kyle Hammond scored seven of the points during the run, giving Bridgewater a 54-44 lead with 15:49 left in the game.

The lead was still 10 at 66-56 with 8:13 left before the WildCats reeled off 11 straight points to grab the lead as the Eagles failed to score for more than four minutes.

Bridgewater weathered the comeback and regained the lead on back-to-back jumpers by Rashad Moore, making the score 70-67 with 2:58 left. Moore tacked on a free throw after the second made jumper to put the Eagles on top by four.\

Randolph fought back and a jumper by Colton Hunt followed by a 3-pointer from Pete Hamilton put the Cats up 72-71 with 1:32 to go.

Ronnie Thomas rolled in a layup off an assist from Rick Maloney to put Bridgewater back on top before Hunt hit 1-of-2 free throws to tie the score 73-73 with 58 seconds left to play.

The Eagles turned the ball over on its next possession and Randolph worked the clock and found Woods-Morrow inside where he was fouled. The former ODAC Rookie of the Year hit 1-of-2 foul shots for what proved to be the winning point.

Moore led four Bridgewater players in double figures with 19 points. Maloney scored 14 followed by Cody Griffith with 13 and Hammond with 12. The teams battled to a standoff on the boards with 32 rebounds each. Justin Brake led the Eagles with seven boards. Griffith also has a solid floor game as he dished out seven assists.

Hunt paced the WildCats with 20 points while Hamilton and Caleb Pearson each scored 11. Woods-Morrow finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Bridgewater is now 2-5 overall and 0-1 in the conference. Randolph improves to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the ODAC.

The Eagles return to action Saturday afternoon at Nininger Hall when they host Guilford College in ODAC action. Game time is 3:00 p.m.