By Christian Sherman

The Bridgewater College Eagles lost to crosstown rival Eastern Mennonite University Wednesday night 80-67 in an ODAC matchup. The Eagles were unable to overcome a 14-point halftime deficit, despite outscoring the Royals in the second half.

The Eagles were led by Chandler Murray and Davrion Grier, who scored 22 and 17 points respectively. Monte Simpkins led the way on the glass with eight boards. The night ended Murray's streak of two straight 30-point games.

The Royals were powered by Tim Jones, who tallied 27 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and 10-of-12 shooting from the stripe. Josh Whelan and DJ Hill grabbed nine and eight boards respectively while Tie Evans assisted on six Royal scores.

As a unit, the Eagles struggled on the glass, being outrebounded 39-25. The Eagles netted two more threes than the Royals, but on twice as many attempts.

After going up 18-11 midway through the first half, the Eagles suffered a 30-9 Royal run to close out the half. Royal momentum surged at 1:52 and again at :18, when Tie Evans swished two deep, high-arching three as the shot clock expired with the ball still in the air. DJ Hill added a score in between as the Royals ended the half on 10-0 run.

The Eagles came out firing in the second half, recording the half's first six points behind a Chandler Murray three and a layup and free throw by Will Bowser to cut the deficit to eight. Davrion Grier enjoyed an impressive sequence minutes later, connecting on a deep three and then recording a booming block on the other end to erase a Royal shot attempt. Mainly on the back of Murray, the Eagles continued to exchange scores with the Royals, but struggled to chip away at the Royal lead. The Eagles hung around, down 10 most of the half, but the Royals proved capable of keeping them at bay, despite the scoring pickup. The Royals' lead ballooned to 13 after another Tie Evans three with 13:13 left.

A confident Bowser rebound and transition three cut the deficit back down to nine with 8:56 left. However, the game's lone dunk from Josh Whelan and a Tim Jones jumper kickstarted the Royal lead back to 13 by the eight-minute mark. A nifty spin move and one from Grier cut the lead back down to 10 with 7:09 left. The pirouette was Grier's second such take of the night and his third and-one. Nevertheless, the Royals quickly reclaimed a larger lead. It seemed every time the Eagles made a dent in the Royal lead, the Royals were able to stretch it back out to 12 or 13. Still, with 3:24 left, there was still a contest to be had after a pair of Bowser free throws and a Murray layup whittled the Eagles' deficit to 10.

A minute later, Tim Jones provided the final dagger when he knocked down two free throws with 2:28 left and then two more at the 2:00 mark for a 77-63 advantage.   

With the loss, the Eagles fall to 6-13 overall and 2-8 in ODAC play. The contest was the Eagles seventh consecutive loss. They head to Ferrum on Saturday, for another ODAC bout.