BRIDGEWATER, Va. – The Washington and Lee men's basketball team emerged with a 74-55 foul-plagued victory over Bridgewater on Wednesday at Nininger Hall.

The two teams were whistled for a combined total of 53 fouls in the contest and the Generals (8-5, 2-3) took advantage at the foul line, making 26-of-36 (.722) from the charity stripe.  Conversely, the Eagles (3-10, 2-3) made good on just 18 of their 33 attempts (.545) at the line.

W&L jumped out to a 15-4 lead at the 11:46 mark of the first half on the strength of good defense and seven points from sophomore forward Clayton Murtha (Dallas, Texas / Highland Park).  Despite going cold from the field, the Generals continued to expand on their lead at the foul line, eventually claiming a 14-point advantage (28-14) on a pair of free throws by junior guard Andy Kleinlein (Chesterfield, Mo. / Chaminade College Prep) at the 2:47 mark.  He then split a pair at the line with nine seconds left in the opening stanza to give W&L a 34-20 lead at the intermission.

Despite the halftime advantage, the Generals shot just 29.6 percent (8-27) from the field in the first half, but the Blue & White drilled 17-of-24 (.708) free throws and committed just five first half turnovers.

Bridgewater began the second half with a 20-9 run keyed by 12 points from first-year guard Jesse Case to cut it to a three-point game (43-40) with 10:57 remaining.  However, the Generals regained their composure and used a 12-1 surge to stretch back out to a 55-41 lead just 2:38 later.  From there, the Generals made seven of their final 11 shots from the field and the Eagles could get no closer than a nine-point deficit (55-46) the rest of the way.

W&L shot 53.8 percent (14-26) from the floor in the second half and finished the game at 41.5 percent (22-53).  First-year guard Devin Kearns (Cibolo, Texas / Samuel Clemens) led the way with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.  Kleinlein posted 12 points and Murtha finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.  First-year forward Roy McMillan (Raleigh, N.C. / Broughton) contributed 10 points and seven boards as well.

Bridgewater finished just 16-of-52 (.308) from the floor and committed 20 turnovers.  Case posted 13 points, four rebounds and four assists and first-year guard Kevin Saylor notched 11 points and six rebounds.

Washington and Lee returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Hampden-Sydney for a 2:00 pm contest.

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