BRIDGEWATER, VA-The Roanoke College men's basketball team's losing streak hit four games with an 82-78 loss at Bridgewater College on Wednesday night. The Maroons, who are mired in a four-game slump for the second consecutive season and second time in five years, fall to 8-7 overall and just 2-6 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. The Maroons have their three-game winning streak against Bridgewater snapped and fall on the Eagles' home court for the first time since the 1996-97 season. Bridgewater is now 10-5 overall and 5-4 in league play.
After building as much as a seven-point lead in the first half, the Maroons, like they did on Monday night, had a second half collapse, getting outscored by the Eagles 47-43 over the final 20 minutes. With the ball game tied at 35 at the break, Bridgewater jumped ahead four minutes into the second half when they used a 9-0 run to take an eight-point, 49-41, lead. Ricky Easterling, who torched the Maroons for 31 points in the contest, scored seven of those points, draining a three and a short jumper on back-to-back shots to bring the streak to a close. Jeff Schwalm added a dunk during the run, which saw the Maroons go scoreless for over three minutes.
Bridgewater slowly added to its lead, twice pushing the edge to 13 points. The second of those 13-point leads came with 9:02 remaining on two Easterling free throws. Five Maroon three-pointers in the 8:47 of the contest kept the score close, with the lead getting down to as low as three-points.
Jared Butler and
NyJuan Hall got all five of the threes, with Hall draining three of them. The Maroons put the Eagles in the double-bonus at the free throw line early in the half, and in the final 8:47 the Eagles made 14 of their 16 free throw attempts to keep RC at arms length.
Roanoke shot 50 percent from the floor in the contest, but got outscored 27-7 at the free throw line and was outrebounded 35-30 in the contest. The Eagles made all but three of their free throws and got 14 of their 35 boards off of their own missed shots. Easterling went 10-for-11 from the line to help his 31-point effort, while Ryan Lambert scored 12 points and had a game-high 11 rebounds. The Maroons, who were outrebounded for the fifth consecutive game, had four players reach double-figures, including Butler who had a 24 points. Hall added 15 points, making all three of his three-pointers.
Kevinn Hunter had 18 points and five rebounds for Roanoke, which got outscored off of the bench 24-7.
The Maroons take the next two days off before returning to action on Saturday and Sunday, hosting two nationally ranked teams. Roanoke hosts Randolph-Macon College on Saturday at 2:00pm. The Yellow Jackets enter Salem as the nation's fourth ranked team. The following day, Sunday, #24 Virginia Wesleyan heads to the college's C. Homer Bast Center. That game is slated for a 2:00pm start as well.
Roanoke vs. Bridgewater Box Score
