SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College men's basketball team did just about everything it needed to do to defeat Bridgewater College in the quarterfinals of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament and in doing so picked up a 67-60 victory at the Salem Civic Center. The Maroons, who improve to 17-9 on the season, will play top-seeded Randolph-Macon College at 2:00pm on Sunday afternoon in the semifinals. This was the second consecutive season that the Maroons eliminated Bridgewater from the ODAC tournament.
The key to the game was the near perfect first half that the Maroons put together. The Maroons hit 18 of their 34 shot attempts in the half, a percentage of 52.9, and turned the ball over just one time. On the other end of the floor, the Maroons held Bridgewater to just 43.3 percent from the field and forced six BC turnovers. The Maroons went into halftime sporting a 45-33 lead.
The Eagles played strong early in the second, cutting the RC lead down to just four, 49-45. After the Maroons built the lead back up to nine (56-47), the Eagles cut it down even closer, clawing back to within two at 60-58. Cold BC shooting late in the half and Roanoke's ability to convert from the free throw line gave the Maroons the eventual 67-60 win.
With his sixth point of the game, Roanoke's Robby Pridgen (Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) reached 1,000 for his Maroons career. Pridgen finished the contest with 18 points. Josh Foster (Roanoke, VA/Roanoke Valley Christian) added 16 points, while Jason Graffam (Vienna, VA/Marshall) scored 14 and added five rebounds. More importantly, Graffam kept Bridgewater's national Player of the Year candidate Kyle Williford off balance the entire game.
Williford finished with 'just' 19 points after averaging 47 in the two regular season meetings during the season, including an ODAC-record 56 point effort in Bridgewater in January. Two other Eagles reached double-figures. Bridgewater lost the contest despite controlling the boards, 41-31.
