BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater men's basketball team came up just short against St. Mary's (Md.) 78-76 on Friday night as the Seahawks scored the go-ahead basket as time expired.
 
The Basics
 
Final Score: St. Mary's 78, Bridgewater 76
Records: Bridgewater 5-6, St. Mary's 4-5
 
How It Happened

• St. Mary's hopped in front 4-0 with back-to-back buckets before Shod Smith knocked down a pair from the charity stripe to put Bridgewater on the board. On the next BC possession Andy Pack found Alec Topper on the wing and the junior nailed the three-pointer to put the Eagles out in front for the first time on the night. Topper knocked down a mid-range jumper to extend the BC advantage.
• The Eagles extended their lead by virtue of a 23-10 run after the Topper basket. Bridgewater opened the first 13 minutes shooting 70% from the floor and 3/3 from beyond the arc to get out to a 30-16 lead, the largest of the contest. St. Mary's quickly closed in with a 15-1 stretch of their own capped off by a Hollique Johnson three-pointer that tied the game. The Seahawks knocked down six of their seven field goal attempts over the stretch while BC was 0/5 over the three and a half minutes span. Each team would trade points with St. Mary's taking their first lead of the night with 1:41 to go in the half and held on to take the one point lead into the intermission 36-35.
• The Seahawks opened the second half with back-to-back baskets to stretch their lead out to five. The Eagles were able to tie the contest at 40-40 as Topper got the team on the board in the second half with a layup and Aaron Oates add a trio of free throws to knot the game back up. SMC took the lead back and stretched it out to a 47-42 gap with 16:20 to go after Micah Henry took a rebound the distance in for a layup.
• BC took the lead back thanks to a 10-0 run where the squad went 3/3 from the field including three-pointers by Pack and Smith to step ahead 52-47 with 14:26 left in the half. Bridgewater held on to the lead until the closing moments and extended the advantage to as much as seven with 4:30 to go after Smith found Oates in transition.
• Following the Oates basket, the Seahawks slowly chipped away getting the gap down to just one point with 26 seconds left after a Jordan Goodwin old-fashioned three-point play. Bridgewater got the inbound pass into Landon Hawes and Topper quickly got it back and was fouled by the Seahawks to stop the clock. The junior made both from the charity stripe making it a three-point game once more.
• St. Mary's drove the floor and Daryn Alexander was fouled and made both shots to close the lead back to one. On the ensuing inbound play, Topper was scanning his options and was hit while he was still in possession of the ball out of bounds resulting in a technical foul on the Seahawks. Hawes made the first of the awarded free throws but missed the second making the score 76-74. As Bridgewater attempted to begin its next possession, Topper tried to get a quick pass in to Oates who had it knocked between his legs and recovered by SMC. The Seahawks got two shots off but could not find nylon but grabbed each offensive rebound. Alexander received the ball after the second board and got off a running floater to tie the game with 0.7 seconds left.
• Pack was the inbounder for the Eagles and went for the long pass, but miscommunication led to the ball not being touched by anyone, meaning SMC was able to pass the ball in from underneath their attacking basket. After a timeout by the Seahawks, Goodwin was the inbounder. Henry faked out for the long pass but quickly dipped into the paint, received the pass, and laid it in for the win.

Match Notes

• Topper led BC with 18 points and grabbed four rebounds.
• Alexander led all players with 21 points. Gary Grant came into the contest ranking second nationally in offensive rebounds and grabbed seven off of the offensive glass.
• Oates snagged a team high 10 rebounds while Cooper Hawk and Taylor Fincham each added three blocks.
• SMC had just 12 points off turnovers, but four of them came in the final second of the contest.
• Bridgewater held a slight advantage in every shooting percentage category including a 76% mark from the charity stripe and 33% from long range.

Up Next
 
The Eagles are in the midst of a four-game homestand and will host Averett on Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in part of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader.