HAMPDEN-SYDNEY – With Saturday's home game against Bridgewater College coming between a big victory over rival Randolph-Macon and Wednesday night's home game against Virginia Wesleyan that will decide Old Dominion Athletic Conference regular-season championship, there was a concern that the Hampden-Sydney basketball team may be facing a trap game.

Nope.

The Tigers (21-2, 13-1 ODAC), who moved up to 11th in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, were having none of it, as they built a big early lead and cruised to a 95-49 victory.

“I was nervous with this game coming between those two,” said H-SC head coach Dee Vick. “With this unbalanced schedule, we hadn't seen Bridgewater this year, and I wasn't sure how much our guys respected them, and they've had some good wins, so I knew they could be a very dangerous team.”

There was no need to be worried.

“I was very impressed with our focus, especially on the defensive end. We took smart shots early, built that comfortable lead and didn't let up.”

H-SC's defense stifled the Eagles, who didn't reach double-figures until a little over four minutes remaining in the first half, all afternoon. Two foul shots by Cam Anderson gave H-SC a 15-6 lead with 15:31 left in the first half, before a three-pointer by Harrison George sparked a stretch of four consecutive three point field goals by H-SC that ended with Patrick Corrigan's second straight three with 12:06 left that gave the Tigers a 27-6 advantage.

By the time Bridgewater (13-10, 7-7) center Ed Reddick put the Eagles into double-figures with 4:04 left in the half, the Tigers were enjoying a 37-11 lead.

Up 42-15 with 1:37 left in the half, George scored six straight and Critzer added another three to give the Tigers a 51-16 lead at the intermission.

The 16 points allowed by the Tigers was a season low for points allowed in a half.

Bridgewater was never able to mount any kind of run in the second half, as the Tigers worked their lead to as many as 50 points in the second half while reaching very far down the bench.

Bridgewater was led by Aaron Adams, who was the Eagles' only double-figure scorer at ten points.

George led the Tigers with a game-high 20 points. Critzer was 5-7 from the three-point arc for 15 points, while Keegan Wetzel scored ten points, as only three Tigers cracked double-figures. Khobi Williamson added eight points and pulled down ten rebounds.

“I preach that we are at our best when we don't care who scores,” said Vick. “That's who we are, we don't care who scores, we just want to find the open man. We don't always hit the shots we take, but we want to make sure we're taking the correct shot.”

Hampden-Sydney shot 52.7 percent (36-67) for the game, 52 percent (13-25) from three point range, and 83.3 percent (10-12) at the free throw line. Bridgewater was held to 33.3 percent (16-48) output, 11.1 percent (1-9) on three-pointers, and 64 percent (16-25) at the charity stripe.

H-SC held a 38-30 rebounding advantage, led in assists 22-7, and forced 21 BC turnovers compared to just seven of their own. Hampden-Sydney turned those 21 turnovers into 26 points.

The victory, coupled with Virginia Wesleyan's win over Guilford on Saturday, sets up a likely winner-take-all game on Wednesday night. Should H-SC win, the Tigers will be crowned the ODAC regular-season champs. Should VWC win, the Marlins would win the league with a victory over Lynchburg on Saturday.

“The ODAC Championship on Wednesday night. Here,” said Vick. “To get it, we'll have a tough task. Wesleyan is the most talented team we've played all year. They put four shooters on the court, and all four can shoot over 40 percent from three. They're proven winners and have a deep bench. That top four is as good as anybody's in the country, but if we want to be the champion, we'll have to do it against the best.”