The Virginia Wesleyan University men's basketball team (15-3, 8-1 ODAC) defeated Bridgewater College 62-59 on the road.
Paul Anderson led the Marlins' offense as he scored 15 points shooting 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and shot 6-for-8 from the free throw line, had one rebound, and three steals.
Waylo Wilson tallied 12 points shooting 5-for-11 from the field and 2-for-4 from the free throw line; he grabbed three rebounds, and had a career-high seven blocks. Wilson's seven blocks rank second all-time in program history in a single game.
Amari Moorer had nine points shooting 4-for-13 from the field, 1-for-4 from the charity stripe; grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds, and had two assists.
The Eagles started the game hot jumping out to a 7-1 lead. The Marlins responded with a 5-2 run to bring the score to 6-9 at the 13:18 mark. Over the next five minutes, Bridgewater played well on both ends of the court and outscored VWU 7-4 to lead 16-10.
After a made jumper by
Omari DeVeaux,
Paul Anderson made back-to-back threes on offensive trips to outscored Bridgewater 8-4 to cut the lead to 20-18. The two teams traded points each scoring seven points over the next two minutes of play. With a score of 27-25, a made three from
Demeir Pollard sparked a Marlins 10-5 run to lead 35-32 heading into halftime.
After the break, both teams came out with an improved defensive strategy as both teams scored 12 total points in the first six minutes of the second half. The Marlins outscored the Eagles 8-4 over that stretch to lead 43-36. Bridgewater came back stringing together a 10-6 run to cut the lead to 49-46.
The Marlins' defense played well and helped the team outscore the host 10-8 to hold a 59-54 lead with 2:59 left in the game. However, the Eagles hit a clutch three at the 1:35 mark to put Bridgewater within one shot of Virginia Wesleyan. With under a minute left with a two point lead the
Khai Seargeant hit some clutch free throws to lead 62-57. With time running down Bridgewater hit a jumper with 1 second left, but were unable to get another shot to give the Marlins the 62-59 win.
