Bridgewater College placed four players in double figures Saturday and defeated the Virginia Intermont College Cobras 84-76 on the final day of the Don Glick Classic at Nininger Hall.
Ed Reddick paced the Eagles with 20 points and Ronnie Thomas added 18. Aaron Adams chipped in with 16 points and Tavis Stapleton scored 13. Thomas flirted with a triple-double as he pulled down eight rebounds and dished out eight assists. Stapleton completed a double-double as his 11 rebounds led the Eagles to a 40-39 edge on the glass.
Joshua Hart recorded a double-double for the Cobras with 32 points and 10 boards. JD Tucker scored 13 points while Ben Sealey and Kris Harris added 10 each.
“Coming off a tough loss on Friday, we came out and found a way to get a win today,” Bridgewater head coach Don Burgess said. “We shook up the lineup a little and I thought Aaron Adams responded and played well. He scored and I thought he gave us some good energy at the defensive end. We had four in double figures and that’s always good to see.”
Hart got the visitors off to a quick start with five early points, but jumpers by Matthew Hunter and Aaron Adams put the Eagles on top 6-5. A 3-pointer by Ronnie Thomas gave Bridgewater a 9-6 before two free throws by JD Tucker pulled the Cobras to within one, 9-8.
Thomas then scored the next eight points, including two buckets from 3-point range, to push the Eagles early lead to 17-8.
The Eagles led the remainder of the half, but the Cobras were able to stay within striking distance. Two foul shots by Hart with 2:39 left in the half pulled the visitors to within a single point, 30-29, but a 3-point play by Stapleton and a jumper by Reddick put the Eagles up 35-29.
Virginia Intermont’s Tyrone Smith and Reddick traded layups in the final minute as the Eagles went to the break with a 37-31 lead.
The Eagles came out strong to start the second half, outscoring the Cobras 17-8 to take their biggest lead of the game.
Leading 45-37, the Eagles hit the Cobras with a 9-2 run to lead by 15 points. A 3-point play by Matthew Hunter and a jumper by Reddick made the score 50-37. After a layup by Tucker, Adams threw down a dunk and Reddick added a layup, giving the Eagles a 54-39 lead with 14:12 left to play.
The Cobras weathered the early Eagles onslaught and eventually made a run of their own. The Eagles still held a double-digit lead, 64-52 at the 7:25 mark when Virginia Intermont scored six straight points to cut the margin to six, 64-58.
The Cobras trimmed the margin to four, 73-69, with 2:03 left on a 3-point play by Hart before a layup by Thomas pushed the margin to six. Tucker scored on a driving layup to once again pull the Cobras to within four points, but Adams hit two straight hoops for the Eagles to push the margin to 79-71 with just 37 seconds left in the game.
Bridgewater, now 4-3, returns to action Monday afternoon when it travels to Danville, Va., to play Averett University.
In Saturday’s opener, North Central edged Eastern Mennonite, 70-68. Landon Gamble led the winners with 24 points and Vince Kmiec added 20, 19 of those in the first half. Marcel Crump scored 19 for the Royals and James Williams finished with 15.
North Central’s Gamble was named the MVP of the Classic and was joined on the all-tournament team by his teammate Jack Burchett, EMU’s David Falk, Virginia Intermont’s Joshua Hart and Bridgewater’s Ronnie Thomas and Ed Reddick.
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