SALEM, VA--Two weeks to the day after setting an Old Dominion Athletic Conference scoring record with 56 points against Roanoke College, Bridgewater senior center Kyle Williford was at it again, burning the Maroons for 38 in BC's 80-64 victory in Salem, VA. The Bridgewater victory snapped Roanoke's six-game winning streak in the series and improved the Eagles' overall record to 15-5 and conference mark to 9-4. Roanoke, which had also won nine of the past 10 meetings with BC, falls to 12-8, 7-6 in the ODAC.
Roanoke's Josh Foster (Roanoke, VA/Roanoke Valley Christian) opened the scoring with a bucket 32 seconds into the game to give the Maroons the only lead they would have. Williford came back 14 seconds later with a conventional three-point play to give the Eagles the lead they would have the rest of the way. The first four minutes of the ball game was the Kyle Williford show. The Raleigh, NC scored Bridgewater's first 13 points of the contest, including six from three-point range. Bridgewater was able to get as much as a 13-point lead in the first, but Roanoke closed the half with a 16-9 run to trim the halftime lead to just six.
The early stages of the second half were the sequel to the Kyle Williford show. As the Eagles were extending their lead back to 13 in the first seven minutes, and to as much as 21 late in the game, Williford was busy scoring 10 more points. He finished the second half with 25 points, 10 coming from the free throw line. Williford outscored the Maroons as a team in the first nine minutes of the second half. Roanoke managed nine points by the time the clock read 11:19.
Williford finished the game with 12 made field goals on 22 attempts and was also 11-for-13 from the free throw line. He also added eight rebounds and hit three three-pointers. Ryan Lambert and Brett Childers were the next high scorers for the Eagles, each netting eight in the win. Williford is averaging 47 points against the Maroons this season.
The Maroons were again dreadful from three-point range, going just 5-of-25 from behind the arc, just 20 percent shooting. Overall, Roanoke was 26-for-71 from the field, meaning they were 21-of-46 from two-point range, just under 46 percent. Foster's 15 were a team-high, while Jason Graffam's (Vienna, VA/Marshall) 11 rebounds were the high for RC.
