BRIDGEWATER, Va. - Bridgewater College opened up a 17-point lead midway through the second half and held off a furious Hampden-Sydney rally down the stretch to take a 53-48 victory in ODAC action Saturday afternoon at Nininger Hall.

The Eagles used a 15-4 spurt early in the contest to open up a 12-point lead. Short jumpers by Malcolm Dixon and Daniel McClain gave the Eagles a 9-4 lead before Ru White scored on a layup for the Tigers. Two free throws and a 3-pointer from Tavis Stapleton stretched the BC lead to 14-6, before a power move from Alex Potapov provided a buckets for the Tigers. Bridgewater then scored the next six points to lead 20-8 with 9:18 left in the first half.

A layup by Potapov pulled the Tigers to within three, 22-19, with 3:06 left in the half, but the Eagles closed the first half with an 9-1 spurt to lead by 11 at the break. Dixon and McClain scored on layups and Stapleton knocked down another three to put the Eagles on top 29-21. McClain added a short jumper with four seconds left for a 31-20 Bridgewater lead at the break.

The Eagles took their biggest lead of the game with a 6-0 spurt midway through the second half. Rick Maloney scored from in close and Kyle Hammond knocked down a 15-footer, making the score 47-30 with 10:01 left in the game.

Bridgewater scored just five points in the next seven minutes, but still led by 10, 52-42, with 2:48 to play.

A layup by Ben Jessee and a three-point play by Colin O'Neill cut the BC lead to five points, 52-48, with 41 seconds left. Cody Griffith hit 1-of-2 free throws on Bridgewater's next possession for the final margin of victory.

Maloney led a balanced Bridgewater scoring attack with 11 points. Maloney was the lone Bridgewater player in double figures but a total of 10 Eagles contributed to the scoring column. McClain and Stapleton scored eight points each and Hammond added seven.

"It was good to see a lot of people get involved.The guys found a way to tough it out and pick up a good conference win," said Bridgewater head coach Don Burgess. "That was a tough 11 points from Rick Maloney. Daniel McClain and Tavis Stapleton stepped up and played well and Malcolm (Dixon) was forced to step in and he gave us some quality minutes at the point."

Ru White led the Tigers with 18 points and Alex Potapov added 12.

Bridgewater is now 6-9 overall and 2-4 in the ODAC. The Tigers drop to 8-6 overall and 1-5 in conference play.