VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Virginia Wesleyan scored the first 11 points of the game Wednesday night and never trailed as the Marlins defeated Bridgewater College 86-65 in ODAC action.

Tim Jones, Khory Moore and Justin Watson hit 3-pointers to give the Marlins a quick 9-0 lead. Watson then added a layup to make it 11-0.

Efe Balfour worked inside to put the Eagles on the scoreboard at the 16:47 mark of the first half, but the Marlins reeled off 12 more unanswered points to lead 23-2 with 14:06 on the clock.

Bridgewater (3-12, 2-5 in the ODAC) then got untracked at the offensive end and roughly seven minutes later, the Eagles had cut the 21-point deficit down to five.

Trailing 23-2, the Eagles scored the next 10 points to pull within 11. Cameron Thurston started the run with a layup and Maalik Howard hit 1-of-2 at the foul line. Layups by Balfour and Romello Crowell made the score 23-9 before a 3-pointer from Keonte Dennis sliced the margin to 23-12.

Kaelin Poe answered with a 3-pointer for the Marlins, but the Eagles then hit the hosts with a 12-3 spurt to pull within five.

Bridgewater trailed 27-12 before a 3-pointer by Jesse Case made the score 27-15. After a layup by Virginia Wesleyan's Daevon Brown, the Eagles reeled off nine unanswered points. Two free throws by Crowell and a layup by Dennis cut the deficit to 10 points. Thurston scored from in close and then added a 3-pointer to pull the Eagles to within 29-24 with 6:57 left in the half.

The rest of the half, however, belonged to the Marlins as they outscored the Eagles 22-8 to lead 51-32 at the break.

Dennis and Thurston each scored 11 points to lead the Eagles offense and Balfour added 10. Poe paced three Marlins in double figures with 20 points.

The Marlins controlled the glass by a 57-37 margin with Aaron Sturdifen leading the way with nine rebounds. Dennis led the Eagles with eight boards.

Bridgewater's home game Saturday against Guilford has been postponed and will be played at a date and time to be announced. The Eagles will return to action Wednesday evening when they travel to Winchester to play Shenandoah.