NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Bridgewater College men's basketball team picked up it's second consecutive win to open the season with a 68-64 victory over Thiel on Saturday.

The Basics
Final Score: Bridgewater 68, Thiel 64
Records: Bridgewater 2-0; Thiel 1-1

How It Happened

• Bridgewater jumped out to a five-point advantage with five points from Aaron Oates in the game's opening 80 seconds. Thiel crawled back in after four makes at the free throw line, but a tip-in by Khalil Ward ended the short run. Thiel pulled back to within a point at 7-6, but a free throw from RK law and a three-pointer from Woody Machado gave BC another five-point edge.
• Thiel stayed close before a quick 6-0 BC run stretched the lead to double-figures at 20-10 after an Oates layup in transition with 9:37 to play in the half. Machado knocked down a long-range jumper after a trade f buckets to stretch the lead out to 12, but a five-point Thiel swing closed the gap to 25-18 with five minutes to go in the half. BC controlled the pace over the final five minutes of the half as a 13-6 BC scoring spree made it a 38-24 Eagles' lead at the break after Will Vetter knocked down a three-pointer late.
• The two sides traded buckets to open the half until Thiel went on a 7-0 run to close the lead down to 42-38. BC took a timeout and Jordan Cooper got in on the action as he drove threw the paint and threw it down to get the Eagles on the board with an exclamation mark. Thiel wasn't done there though as the Tomcats closed down to two with 14:06 to play.
• The teams traded makes utile a four-point swing by Oates made it a even point gap and a deep make from Ward a few moments later made it 56-48 with 10 minutes on the clock. Thiel closed back to within three with 7:11 to play, but a 6-0 scoring run by BC stretched the gap back out to nine with four minutes to go. The Tomcats got the stops thy needed and eventually ere forced to foul, but four key makes in a row from Cooper closed the deal at 68-64.

Match Notes

• Cooper and Oates paced all scorers with 16 and 15 points each. Cooper and Maleek Richardson tied for the game-high with seven rebounds.
• Gabriel Gonzalez led the Tomcats with 12 points as three players notched double-digit scoring afternoons for Thiel.
• The Eagles shot an efficient 44.0% from the field and combined that with 86.4% from the charity stripe on the way to the victory.

Up Next
The Eagles head to just outside the nations capital on Tuesday to take on Marymount in Arlington at 7 p.m.