BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater men's basketball team picked up its third consecutive victory after taking down Randolph 73-71 on Wednesday night.
 
The Basics
 
Final Score: Bridgewater 73, Randolph 71
Records: Bridgewater 8-6 (3-2 ODAC), Randolph 5-10 (1-5 ODAC)
 
How It Happened

• Liam Caswell opened the scoring in the first minute knocking down a jumper but Danny Bickey quickly answered for the WildCats to even the contest. Alec Topper knocked down a three-pointer for BC to put the Eagles back in front in the early going. The two teams traded turnovers and misses with nearly a two minute scoring drought for either side until Bickey found Landon Wagoner on the low block for a layup for Randolph. 
• Midway through the opening half Bridgewater extended its lead to as much as eight after Aaron Oates found Will Dunlap in transitions and Oates made the front end of two shots at the charity stripe the following possession. RC put together a short 5-0 run before a Shod Smith old-fashioned three-point play stopped the WildCats' momentum. The Eagles stretched the lead out to double figures at 28-18 after Joseph Crenshaw hit Topper on the wing for a trey with seven minutes left in the frame. After the three-pointer, Randolph rolled to a 13-2 run to take its first lead of the night on a Hunter Verling layup, 31-30. The Eagles responded with a run of their own stepping ahead on a 10-4 stretch to take a 40-35 advantage into the intermission. 
• Randolph came out of the half scoring the first three points, but a 5-0 Bridgewater run pushed the Eagles lead back out to seven. Both teams traded buckets with Bridgewater maintaining a one possession lead throughout much of the opening stages of the second half.
• The WildCats drew to within two with nine minutes remaining in the contest. Connor Ballou was able to drive some life into the Eagles offense as the freshman found Landon Hawes open for the trey to end a three minute BC scoreless drought. Randolph responded with a three-pointer of their own, but Ballou stayed dialed in and knocked down a long ball for BC. the WildCats drilled another three-pointer to cut the BC advantage back down to two. Out of a timeout Hawes responded with five quick points to take the Bridgewater lead out to 62-57 with just over seven minutes remaining.
• The Eagles got a slight edge down the stretch to take their advantage to as much as six with 1:19 left to play after Topper hit Caswell on the low block for an easy two. Randolph responded with a layup from Micah Crider and after a BC miss Jordan Phillips-McLoyd drove down the floor and capitalized on a three point play to close the game to a single point. Randolph was forced to foul on the inbound play sending Topper to the charity stripe. The junior made the front end but missed the back end and RC was able to come up with the rebound. Philips-McLoyd drove down the floor and had a look from three point land at the game winner but missed it short off the front iron.

Match Notes

• Topper led BC in points and rebounds with 15 and six respectively. Smith and Hawes were also in double figures with 13 and 12.
• Phillips-McLoyd scored a game high 23 points and Cole Perry grabbed a game high nine rebounds for the WildCats.
• The Eagles defense held their own limiting two of the ODAC's top scorers to just 33 points and a combined 11/35 from the floor between Bickey and Phillips-McLoyd. 
• Bridgewater short 43.8% from the floor including 30% from long range compared to just 16.7% from beyond the arc for the WildCats.
• The Eagles picked up their sixth win in their last seven contests with their only loss in the stretch coming to St. Mary's at the buzzer on Dec. 30.

Up Next
 
The Eagles will hit the road on Saturday Jan. 14 as they take on Hampden-Sydney. Tip is set for 2 p.m. in Farmville.