The AU Men’s basketball team pulled their exhibition record to 1-1 with a win over Catholic University Cardinals 70-64 on Sunday. The Eagles had a 12-point advantage going into halftime and never gave up the lead. Catholic closed the deficit to four early in the second half.
Sophomore center Stephen Lumpkins had a game high 21 points and completed a double double with 10 rebounds for the Eagles. On top of his double double, he had four assists, three blocks and two steals.
Freshman point guard Daniel Munoz also chipped in with 15 points, including eight free throws in the last minute. He also had one steal and one rebound. However, Munoz had two turnovers and no assists on the night.
The Eagles were relieved to come back with a strong game after a loss to Randolph-Macon on Tuesday.
“We had fewer guys that had the deer in the headlights look,” said Head coach Jeff Jones.
Jones said that Lumpkins is the central focus of the offense this coming season.
“We always want to have an offensive focus. The last couple of years that focus was Garrison Carr and we had everybody playing off the sets we had,” Jones said. “This year we want Stephen Lumpkins to be that focus. We want him to get a lot more touches.”
Jones has already seen improvement in Lumpkins through two exhibition games.
“You can see a difference in him,” Jones said. “With all the work he put in over the summer, he had a very good preseason. Now he can really look me eye to eye, whereas last year he looked at me out of the side of his eye.”
After six members of last year’s back-to-back Patriot Championship team graduated, the team must look elsewhere for production.
“It’s a lot different than last year,” Lumpkins said. “Last year we had all those seniors, and I was coming off the bench. We weren’t really looking to throw the ball inside. Last year we shot a lot more threes.”
The Eagles begin the regular season on Friday, in an away game against St. Francis. St. Francis is in a similar situation as AU, as they also lost five seniors after last season.
Jones said he does not see a change coming to the starting lineup and said that he will most likely go with the same starters that he went with on Sunday. That said, he said he would not rule out any last minute changes.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
