BRIDGEWATER, Va. - Bridgewater College defeated Johnson & Wales University, 79-70, Friday on the opening night of the 25th Annual BC/Don Glick Classic.

Bridgewater guard Ronnie Thomas knocked down a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game and the Eagles never trailed.

The Wildcats tied the score at 14-14, but a 13-2 run pushed Bridgewater's lead to double digits for the first time. Freshman guard Benaiah Wise came off the bench and hit three straight from 3-point range to spark the Eagles run.

Johnson & Wales stayed within striking distance for most of the half and trailed by just seven points with 47 seconds left.

Bridgewater closed the half with a 6-0 spurt to push the lead back to double digits. Daniel McClain hit a pair of inside baskets and a layup by Ed Reddick with two seconds left gave the Eagles a 46-33 lead at the break.

The Eagles controlled play for the first 10 minutes of the second half and slowly built their lead.

Sophomore David Larson brought the crowd to its feet when he took an alley-oop pass from Thomas and threw down a monstrous two-handed dunk to give the Eagles a 58-39 lead with 13:47 left.

Moments later, a jumper by Reddick gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the night, 62-39, with 12:22 left.

The Eagles appeared to be well on their way to a comfortable victory, but the Wildcats got hot from beyond the arc and cut the lead to single digits in the closing minute.

Reddick then got behind J&W's pressing defense for a pair of dunks to put the finishing touches on the Eagles 79-70 victory.

The Eagles finished with four players in double figures, led by Thomas with a game-high 15 points. Reddick and Aaron Adams, a pair of freshmen forwards, added 12 points each. McClain finished the night with 10 points. DeShaun Alston paced four J&W players in double figures with 14 points.

The Wildcats held a slim 44-40 edge on the boards led by Sydney Mitchell with 13 rebounds. Mitchell finished with a double-double as he also scored 12 points. Reddick led the Eagles with eight boards and McClain added seven.

The lone down moment for the Eagles came early when leading scorer Cody Griffith went down with an ankle injury.

"It was tough to lose Cody, but our young guys circled the wagons and found a way to win the basketball game," Bridgewater head coach Don Burgess said. "We played a lot of people and we played a lot of different combinations. It was a night where we were able to give everyone some quality minutes."

The Glick Classic concludes Saturday with two more games. At 2:00 p.m., Eastern Mennonite meets Johnson & Wales while Bridgewater, now 4-2 on the season, hosts Bluefield at 4:00 p.m.

In Friday night's other game, Bluefield rolled past Eastern Mennonite 92-63.