HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (January 17, 2008)—Bridgewater College's objective was quite clear in its Saturday afternoon bout with Hampden-Sydney: stop Tigers' scoring sensation Turner King (Roanoke, VA/Roanoke Catholic) at all costs.
Although King, the ODAC's leading scorer, was held to just eight points on 3-of-6 shooting, the Tigers withstood that defensive blow and countered by placing four other players in double figures en route to a 79-65 win over the Eagles in front of 1,417 at S. Douglas Fleet Gymnasium.
It was the third straight win for Hampden-Sydney, which has rebounded from an 0-3 start in the conference to even its league record to 3-3 with victories over Emory and Henry, Virginia Wesleyan and now Bridgewater.
Matt Partsch (Roanoke, VA/Hidden Valley) went for 14 points, while Shane Payne (Weston, FL/Sagemont) and Karlis Trops (Riga, Latvia/Charlotte Latin) chipped in with 10 apiece, but no Tiger hoopster was more effective than freshman Ben Jessee (Midlothian, VA/Cosby), who improved his streak of double-digit scoring outputs to six games with a team-high 17 points.
Jessee notched 11 of those tallies in the first half to keep Hampden-Sydney (8-7, 3-3 ODAC) afloat, helping the Tigers navigate through a sluggish first 20 minutes in which Bridgewater forced eight H-SC turnovers and snared six offensive rebounds.
Eagles' 6-foot-5 swingman Michael Oblitey was a major headache for Tigers' head coach Dee Vick in the opening half, scoring nine points and grabbing one of the aforementioned offensive boards as the Eagles (7-9, 3-4 ODAC) trailed by just two, 31-29, at the break.
But the Tigers wasted little time putting distance between themselves and the opposition at the start of the second half.
Payne converted a layup following a beautiful feed from Byron Lawton (High Point, NC/Wesleyan)and King and Jessee posted back-to-back three-pointers to give the Tigers a 39-30 lead with 16:18 to play.
A Kris Cecil triple cut the deficit back to six for the Eagles on their next possession, but a 14-6 spurt by the Tigers over the next four minutes ballooned the lead to 14 points, 53-39, following a Lane Medlin (West Point, VA/Fork Union) three-point play.
Hampden-Sydney maintained its double-digit lead for the remainder of the game, mostly as a result of clutch free throw shooting down the stretch. A team that has struggled at times this season from the foul line, the Tigers turned around a 6-of-11 first half effort from the stripe to convert on 16-of-19 attempts in the second half.
A slight edge on the second half boards also aided the Tigers' cause, as did the solid defensive effort on Oblitey, the Eagles' second leading scorer; he was held scoreless after the break.
In place of his teammate, however, Bridgewater top-scorer Dom Trawick turned up the heat in the second 20 minutes, scoring 13 of his game-high 18 in the frame and keeping the Eagles in a position to potentially make one last run in the latter stages.
Hampden-Sydney received a blessing in disguise with the emergence of its other offensive weapons. With three games in six days, the Tigers were able to rest King for the majority of the second half. King logged just nine minutes in the final half as his teammates made play after play to keep the Eagles at bay.
The Tigers shot 45.1 percent for the game and 40.7 percent from the three-point line while forcing 20 Bridgewater turnovers, 13 in the second half. It was the second consecutive game that Hampden-Sydney has held its opponent to sub-40 percent shooting, as the Eagles knocked down just 38.9 percent of their field goal tries.
Hampden-Sydney returns to the hardwood Monday night, January 19 when it heads south to Greensboro, North Carolina to square off with Guilford College. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 pm.
