Bridgewater evens record with 82-69 win over Builders

Bridgewater stretched a two-point halftime lead to double figures with a solid second-half effort Saturday to defeat Apprentice School 82-69 in the final game of the BC/Don Glick Classic.

Bridgewater held a slim 43-41 halftime lead, but a 5-0 spurt to open the second half gave the Eagles a little breathing room. Bryce Boggs started the half with a 3-pointer and Efe Balfour added the next four points to put the Eagles up 50-47.

Bridgewater led the rest of the way, but had trouble shaking free from the Builders.

The Eagles led by five, 54-49, before an 11-3 run pushed the lead to 13 points.

Two foul shots by Balfour and a dunk by Boggs stretched the margin to 58-49. After a layup by the Builders’ Keith Taylor, Boggs hit two free throws and Phil Baumgartner added a short jumper for a 62-51 Eagles’ lead. Apprentice’s William Wilcox and Boggs each made 1-of-2 at the line before a layup by Balfour pushed the margin to 65-52 with 7:24 left to play.

The Builders chipped away at the defict and pulled to within six, 67-61, when Wilcox tallied from 3-point range at the 4:42 mark.

Kevin Saylor answered with a 3-ball and Essex Thompson added a driving layup to quickly extend the Eagles’ lead back to double figures, 72-61, with 3:53 remaining.

The Builders would get no closer than nine points the rest of the way. Balfour and Thompson threw down crowd-pleasing dunks in the closing minutes as the Eagles finished off the 82-69 victory.

Balfour led the Eagles with 22 points and seven rebounds. Boggs scored 17 points and Saylor added 14. Jesse Case and Thompson both came off the bench and scored nine points each. Romello Crowell also had a solid floor game with five points, six assists and just two turnovers in 29 minutes.

Saturday’s victory evens Bridgewater’s record at 4-4. The Eagles are back in action Saturday, Dec. 17 when they host Southern Virginia. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.

In Saturday’s other game of the Glick Classic, Eastern Mennonite held off a late Moravian rally to take a high-scoring 104-100 victory. Maleke and Jerome Jones scored 16 points each to lead five EMU players in double figures. Brandon McGuire poured in 35 points for Moravian.