The AU men's basketball team celebrated their 2008-2009 home opener with a 67-46 victory over St. Francis University Monday night as the newly minted Patriot League championship banner hung proudly from the Bender Arena rafters. The win was the first of the season for the Eagles, whose record on the year now stands at 1-1.
Following a pre-game banner-revealing ceremony led by AU President Neil Kerwin, Athletics Director Keith Gill and returning graduates Travis Lay and Romone Penny, the team was able to finally put last year behind them and get down to the business of playing the game.
"Believe it or not, I was thinking 'lets hurry up and play the game,'" Head Coach Jeff Jones said.
The game started off close, as both teams traded baskets in the early going to try to establish an offensive rhythm.
Garrison Carr hit the first bucket of the game with 17:49 left in the first half to give the Eagles the 2-0 lead.
However, this lead would be lost for the first and only time during the game minutes later, as St. Francis' Mislav Jukic hit a jumper at the 15:17 mark to give the Red Flash the one point advantage, 7-6.
This would be the last the time AU trailed throughout the game, as Jordan Nichols' lay-up quickly gave the Eagles the lead back. The team would extend this lead throughout the first half, going on a 25-12 run the rest of the period to take a 31-19 lead heading into the locker room.
Carr and Brian Gilmore led the team with nine points apiece during the first half, despite Carr's uncharacteristic 0-6 from beyond the three-point line.
The Eagles continued their offensive dominance in the second half, extending their lead throughout the period as Carr started to heat up from beyond the arc.
Carr's first three-pointer of the evening, which was quickly followed by his second, came with 14:55 remaining in the game, two shots which pushed the Eagles to their largest lead of the game at 47-24.
Carr would go on to hit three further three pointers in the second half, all five that the Eagles would score during that period, as part of a 19-point effort in the second half, to lead the Eagles to the eventual 67-46 victory.
"Once they dropped the banner and I saw that we had a good crowd here, I was just overly excited," Carr said. "But once the team got going and I was able to sit myself down in the locker room for halftime and calm myself down, things just got back to normal."
You can reach this staff writer at jhall@theeagleonline.com.
