HARRISONBURG, Va. - No. 12 Eastern Mennonite outscored Bridgewater 8-3 in the final minutes Wednesday night to escape with an 86-81 ODAC victory over the Eagles.

With eight minutes left in the frst half, the Royals led the Eagles by nine, their biggest lead of the game, but BC answered to take a lead late in the first half. The Eagles led by one, 43-32, with 30 seconds left in the half on a layup by Segar Jordan, but two free throws by Boo Payne gave the Royals a one-point halftime lead.

Bridgewater opened the second half with a 11-2 spurt, sparked by Jake Johnson's five points, to take its biggest lead of the game, 54-46. Dom Trawick's layup capped the surge and put the Eagles up by eight with 14:15 left to play.

EMU whittled away at the deficit and regained the lead with just over 10 minutes left to play.

The game was nip-and-tuck from that point until the 2:33 mark when a layup and 1-of-2 free throws by Todd Phillips gave EMU a six-point, 78-72, lead.

The Eagles answered when Jake Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the margin to three and then Johnson added a 3-point play inside to tie the score at 78-78, with 1:02 left in the game.

Phillips hit a jumper to give the Royals an 80-78 lead and EMU hit 6-of-6 free throws down the stretch to ice the victory.

"We played hard and gave ourselves a chance to win," Bridgewater head coach Don Burgess said. "It was great college basketball environment and a great basketball game. Don the stretch, EMU made some big plays and then they hit their free throws.

"Dom had another big game and Jake Johnson really played will tonight. Also, Kyle Hammond came off the bench and gave us that third option on offense that we need to have."

Trawick led the Eagles with 26 points and five assists. Johnson scored 15 and Kyle Hammond had a big game off the bench with 14 points. Hammond hit 4-of-8 shots from beyond the arc.

Phillips led the Royals with 26 points and 13 rebounds. Eli Crawford scored, 20 George Johnson added 13 and Andrew Thorne added 11 off the bench for EMU.

EMU held a big edge at the foul line where the Royals hit 30-of-38 shots. Bridgewater went to the line just 13 times and made eight.

The Eagles (9-13, 6-9 ODAC) wrap up the regular season Saturday when they host Lynchburg College. EMU improves to 20-3, 13-3 in the ODAC.