BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Bridgewater College men's basketball team's season came to a close as they fell to Ferrum in the opening round of the ODAC Tournament

THE BASICS
Final Score: Ferrum 76; Bridgewater 67
Records: Bridgewater 16-10; Ferrum 16-10
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Panthers drew first blood, but Woody Machado drilled a three-pointer to push BC ahead on the next possession. Ferrum drained a three-pointer in response and Aaron Oates tied things back up with a pair of makes at the free-throw line. Both sides started trading makes with the Panthers holding a lead until Jordan Cooper connected from downtown to make it 12-10 with 14:33 to go in the half. FC put together six-straight points to pull back in front 16-12, but a RK Law triple sliced the gap to just a point. Law's three-pointer sparked an 8-0 BC run to make it 20-16 in favor of the home squad with 9:27 to go in the half.
• Ferrum ended the run to close back to within a single score and the two sides traded scores before a posterizing dunk from Khalil Ward and an Oates make from deep put BC ahead 29-22. Three free throws from Jikari Johnson ended the run, but an Alec Topper layup pushed the lead back to two possessions. One more time the two sides traded buckets until Cooper found Topper who drilled a three-pointer to make it a 10-point BC lead with 2:48 remaining in the half. Ferrum scored and in response Cooper drilled a three-ball to stretch the lead to 40-29. The Panthers did not fade with their backs to the wall as coach Corrigan's squad ended the half on a 7-0 run to make it 40-36 in favor of the home side at the intermission.
• Ferrum started the half where they left off and close it down to just a two-point game to start the half. Topper got the Eagles on the board for the first tie in over three minutes, but five points in a row from the Panthers gave the, the lead back for the first time in a while at 43-42. On cue, Machado drilled another three-pointer to give BC the advantage right back. FC scored five points in succession to take a three-point lead, but BC closed back in and tied it up at 48-48 with a Ward layup. Ferrum scored on back-to-back trips to push the lead back out and this time Landon Hawes filled the void with a make from deep to make it a one-point game with 12:51 to play.
• With a narrow advantage, Ferrum responded with a 9-0 run to blow the game open with a 61-51 advantage. Ward drained another three-pointer, but Ferrum replied with a 7-0 run to make it 68-54 with 6:04 to play. Another deep-range make from Machado and a Ward dunk sparked an 8-2 BC scoring run capped off by a Cooper deep-range jumper to make it an eight-point game with 3:38 to go. Ferrum stopped the momentum, but a make from Topper and a trio of makes from the charity stripe by Cooper got BC back to within five with under a minute to play. The Panthers made the free throws necessary to weather the storm and hang on for the win.

MATCH NOTES

• Ward led BC with 14 points and shot 60% from the field.
• Johnson and Tahlie Oden combined for 41 of the Panthers 76 points in the win. Bryant Wall added 19 as well.
• The game was a tale of two halves. Ferrum shot 55.6% from the field in the half and held BC to just 29.0% shooting in the same time span.
• Topper nearly ended his career with a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.

UP NEXT
Bridgewater finishes the season with a 16-10 record and a 9-7 mark in ODAC play. Both are program highs under head coach Steven Enright.