Subpar shooting from the field and from the charity stripe put the Eastern Mennonite University men's basketball team in a big hole that they were unable to dig out of as Bridgewater College upended the Royals, 82-69, Saturday night in Harrisonburg, Va.

The win pushes the Eagles record to an even 9-9 on the season and 5-4 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference.

EMU falls to 10-7 on the year, 5-4 in the conference.

BC was led by 20 points and 14 rebounds from Michael Oblitey. Dominic Trawick, Matt Drewer, and Robert Rice each had another 10 points for the Eagles.

George Johnson (Richmond, Va./Miller School) had a team leading 18 points for EMU while D.J. Hinson (Newport News, Va./Menchville) had 15 points and seven rebounds.

The Johnson-to-Hinson combination worked for the Royals right off the bat to start the game as Hinson slammed down the allyoop from Johnson to put the home team up two and give an already raucous home crowd even more energy.

Unfortunately for Royals' fans that was the highlight of the night as Bridgewater tied the game on a Trawick layup and eventually pulled ahead by six at the 15:20 mark. A 7-0 swing by the home team put the Royals back up by one point (11-10). Bridgewater answered with an 8-0 run to reclaim the lead, which they held for the remainder of the half.

The free throw line was particularly troubling for the Royals as EMU sank 8-of-15 in the first half, and 22-of-37 for the game. The Royals shot 43 percent in the first half (10-of-23) but only 33 percent in the second (10-of-30).

With the Eagles entering the second half with a 10-point cushion (42-32), the visiting squad made sure to keep their advantage at double figures. A free throw shot by Orie Pancione (Augusta, WVa./Hampshire) put EMU down only nine, but seven unanswered points by the visiting team saw the Royals' deficit climb to 16 (49-33).

The Bridgewater advantage grew to as much as 18 points before a late rally by EMU closed the gap again to eight points (71-63). Justin Reavis took the ball down the court and dropped in a layup, boosting the BC lead back up to 10 with the Eagles adding on another pair in their next possession. EMU continued to battle, shrinking the deficit back to nine, only to have BC answer back and put the game seemingly out of reach. With 2:26 left in regulation, the Eagles scored seven straight points to put the game away as D.J. Billups added a layup plus one to cap the scoring.

Billups finished with five points off the bench for BC.

Todd Phillips (Waynesboro, Va./Waynesboro) and Austin Twine (Dublin, Va./Pulaski Co.) each had 10 points in the loss.

EMU will look to rebound from this loss next week as they host Washington Bible College on Tuesday, January 27, for a non-conference match-up. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.