HARRISONBURG, Va. – Eastern Mennonite outscored Bridgewater 19-9 over the final seven minutes Wednesday night to rally for a 62-54 victory over the Eagles in Old Dominion Athletic Conference men's basketball action.

The Eagles trailed by seven points, 18-11, at the 7:46 mark of the first half, but two buckets by Ed Reddick pulled the Eagles to within three. After a jumper by EMU's Marcel Crump, Reddick scored again and Kenneth Waugh added a driving layup to cut the Royals' lead to a single point, 20-19, with 3:26 left in the half.

A layup by Aaron Adams gave the Eagles the lead, but EMU's James Williams answered with a layup and two free throws to put the Royals on top 24-21.

Adams hit two free throws and then added a layup after grabbing an offensive rebound to put the Eagles back on top by one, but Williams responded with a 12-footer in the lane to send the Royals to the locker room with a 26-25 lead at the half.

The teams traded points early in the second half as the score was tied four times in the opening five minutes.

A layup by Tavis Stapleton gave the Eagles a 34-32 lead before two free throws by Crump tied the score at the 14:49 mark.

The Eagles then put together their best offensive flurry of the game as they used a 9-2 run to take a seven-point lead.

A layup by Stapleton put the Eagles back on top and a 3-pointer by Stapleton pushed the lead to five, 39-34. After a tip-in by the Royals' David Falk, Stapleton and Adams both scored from in close to give Bridgewater its biggest lead of the game, 43-36, with 12:07 left.

The lead didn't last long as 10-2 run capped by RJ Sims' 3-pointer put the Royals back on top 46-45, with 6:58 remaining.

A jumper by Reddick put the Eagles back on top by one, but that would turn out to be Bridgewater's final lead of the night.

Two free throws by Sims and a layup in traffic by Crump gave the Royals a three-point lead, but two free throws by Stapleton cut the deficit to one, 50-49, with 4:40 to go.

The Eagles managed just one field goal the rest of the way while RJ Sims was making the difference for the Royals. Sims scored eight of his 16 points in the final 3:31 of action to lead EMU to the 62-54 victory.

Reddick led all scorers with 22 points and Stapleton finished with 15 points, 13 of those coming in the second half.

In addition to Sims' 16 points, Williams and Crump each added 14 for the Royals.

The Eagles won the battle of the boards by a 36-33 margin with Stapleton pulling down a game-high nine rebounds.

Bridgewater (7-6, 2-3 in the ODAC) once again struggled to find its shooting touch, connecting on 19-of-55 shots for 34.5 percent. Eastern Mennonite (7-7, 3-2 in the ODAC) made 19-of-46 shots for 41.3 percent.

The Eagles return to action Saturday afternoon when they host Roanoke College in ODAC action. The game is the back end of a double-header as it follows the Bridgewater-Roanoke women's game. The women tip off at 1 p.m. with the men's game to follow.