BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Bridgewater College cut a 24-point, second-half deficit down to just six with two minutes left to play, but the comeback effort ran out of steam as Emory & Henry held on for an 80-70 ODAC victory Saturday afternoon at Nininger Hall.

A pair of Eagles freshman led the offense as Jesse Case and Efe Balfour each finished with 21 points. Balfour posted a double-double as he also pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Cameron Thurston also reached double figures with 11 points.

Emory & Henry controlled the first half as the Eagles were unable to find a way to score the basketball. The Wasps made 14-of-29 shots in the first 20 minutes for 48.3 percent while the Eagles connected on just 5-of-26 shots for 19.2 percent.

Myles Turner opened the game with a 3-pointer to spark the visitors to a quick 7-0 lead. A Kevin Saylor driving layup put the Eagles on the board before a 16-4 run opened up a 22-6 lead for Emory & Henry with 11:02 left in the opening half.

Emory & Henry took its biggest lead of the first half when Kevin Anzenberger knocked down a jumper to make it 41-21  with 1:14 remaining. Two foul shots by Case and another free throw from Thurston cut the margin to 41-24 at the half.

The Wasps continued to control play during the first five minutes of the second half. A layup by Chase Branscomb capped an 8-0 spurt to give Emory & Henry its biggest lead of the game, 56-32, with 15:02 left.

Bridgewater then put together an 8-0 run of its own to whittle the margin down to 16. Two free throws by Case and a bucket by Balfour made the score 56-36. Balfour added a pair of free throws and Maalik Howard converted a steal into an easy layup, pulling the Eagles to within 56-40 at the 12:11 mark.

A 3-pointer by Clif Conley pushed the Wasps lead back to 20 points, 67-45, but then Bridgewater's harassing, fullcourt pressure started to pay dividends.

Bridgewater reeled off 11 unanswered points to cut the margin to single digits for the first time since early in the game. The Eagles found the way to the charity stripe where Case, Balfour and Logan Seacrist combined to go 6-for-6 to trim the deficit to 67-53. Following  a missed shot by the Wasps, Balfour powered inside and converted a three-point play to cut the margin to 11 points. After another Wasps miss, Howard was fouled on a drive to the hole and made both free throws to pull the Eagles to within 67-58 with 5:03 remaining.

Alic Wynn snapped the Wasps scoring drought with a layup, but Seacrist answered with a 3-pointer as the Eagles inched to within eight, 69-61.

Bridgewater continued to chip away at the deficit and a layup by Balfour made it 71-65 with 2:28 remaining. Turner then came up big for the Wasps on their next possession as he drove inside and converted a layup while being fouled. He tacked on the free throw, giving E&H a 74-65 lead.

Case missed  a 3-pointer on BC's next trip and Branscomb followed by hitting two free throws, giving E&H a 76-65 lead. Another 3-point miss, this one by Saylor, was followed by another driving layup by Turner to push the Wasps advantage to 78-65 with just one minute left.

Turner led four E&H players in double figures with 16 points. John Shelor scored 14, followed by Ryan Gravley with 12 and Branscomb with 11.

Both Bridgewater and Emory & Henry are 2-2 conference play. The Eagles are 3-9 overall while the Wasps improve to 8-5.

Bridgewater returns to action Wednesday evening when the Eagles host Washington and Lee University in another ODAC contest. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.