Andre Ingram led the Eagles with 19 points, including a clutch four point play in overtime, in a wild 59-54 win in double overtime on Friday night against Fairfield.
The Eagles trailed 44-42 with just six seconds left in the game when Derrick Mercer drove toward the basket and was fouled. The sophomore point guard hit both free throws to send the game to overtime.
Fairfield built a five point lead in the first overtime period, but Ingram hit a three-pointer while being fouled and sank the free throw to cut the deficit to one. After a Linas Lekavicius basket and two free throws from Ingram with six seconds remaining, it looked like the Eagles had the game in hand. However, Fairfield's Jonathan Han hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into a second overtime.
In the second overtime, the Eagles hit their first three shots and held Fairfield to just a single free throw in the five minute period to win the game by five points.
Both teams started out the game slowly in their first game of the season, as they were tied at 11 midway through the first half. Fairfield briefly pulled ahead, but a 13-4 run highlighted by two Ingram three-pointers gave AU a 26-21 lead at halftime.
AU came out strong in the second half, quickly stretching the lead to nine points. However, a 9-0 run by Fairfield tied the game. The rest of the half was close, with AU taking several leads but never pulling away, until finally Fairfield took their first lead of the half with 12 seconds remaining.
Ingram grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in the game, playing a game-high 48 minutes. Mercer chipped in 14 points, hitting 4-4 from the free throw line. Greg Nero led Fairfield with 14 points, and Marty O'Sullivan grabbed 16 rebounds in the loss.
The Eagles return to action on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m., squaring off against Morgan State in the team's home opener.
Hoops Notes: AU won its home opener for the first time since 2000 (a 74-62 home win against Radford).The Eagles are now 8-4 all time against Fairfield.After leading the team in scoring in both exhibition games, senior forward Brayden Billbe scored just two points on Friday.AU shot poorly, with three-point specialists Garrison Carr and Arvydas Eitutavicius combining to shoot 0-9 from beyond the arc.
