HARRISONBURG, Va.  – A 32-7 run from the 14th-ranked Eastern Mennonite Royals to open the game proved to be the difference as the Bridgewater Eagles men's basketball team fell to the Royals in Yoder Arena on the EMU campus by an 85-65 score.

Eastern Mennonite netted the game's first ten points to put the Eagles down early, before a Kyle Hammond layup put Bridgewater on the scoreboard with 17:01 to play in the first half.

The Royals then used a 22-5 run to put the Eagles in a deep hole at a 32-7 margin with 8:35 to play in the opening frame.

Over the remaining eight minutes of the opening half, Bridgewater outscored Eastern Mennonite by a 19-13 margin, but it was EMU leading at the intermission by a 45-26 tally.

Bridgewater was outshot by a 48%-to-23% tally  from the field in the first half.

Bridgewater opened the second half with a three pointer from the hands of Drew Maynard to cut the Royals lead to 45-29 with 19 and a half minutes to play in the game.

The Eastern Mennonite lead teetered around 15 points for the next three minutes before the Royals used a George Johnson three and a Todd Phillips layup to push the score to a 56-35 tally with 16:16 remaining in the contest.

Bridgewater was able to get the lead down to 13 points with just under 10 minutes to play, before an 8-0 Eastern Mennonite run effectively put the game away with under seven minutes remaining.

Eastern Mennonite's lead got as high as 27 points down the stretch, but it was Bridgewater scoring the game's final seven points, but it was too little, too late as the Eagles fell to the Royals by an 85-65 tally.

Bridgewater was led offensively by a 10-point outing from Justin Brake.

On the glass, senior Rick Maloney pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to lead the Eagles.

On the offensive end, Johnson led the way with 19 points for the Royals.

Both teams converted on 22 shots in the game and also netted five three-pointers but an extra 20 points from the line for the Royals eventually proved to be a major factor in the game. Bridgewater committed 38 fouls on the evening, compared to just 19 for the Royals.

Bridgewater is back in action on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against the Maroons of Roanoke College in the confines of Nininger Hall.