The American University men’s basketball team (1-2) defeated the Harvard University Crimson (1-2) 67-55 in Bender Arena for their home opener on Nov. 10.
The Eagles came into this match with reinforcements after a tough loss against LaSalle on Nov. 4. Senior guard Elijah Stephens made his season debut after recovering from an undisclosed injury. Last season, Stephens was a key contributor both on the offensive and defensive end of the ball for the Eagles, averaging 9.8 points and 4.9 assists, and was named a First-Team All Patriot League defender.
A crowd of 3,319 fans packed Bender arena for the matchup, as American students lined up outside trying to get a seat in the arena to see former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, who sat in the Harvard supporter section. As the former president walked into Bender, the stands erupted with cheers and a standing ovation from the fans.
When asked if there were any jitters playing in front of the former president, graduate student guard Colin Smalls said he was just focused on executing the game plan.
“I wouldn’t say jitters. It’s pretty cool knowing that he was going to show up, but you know when you step on the line, you got to focus on the opponents, so we were able to do that and get the dub,” Smalls said.
Harvard won the tip, but American came out playing with strong intensity and energy. Junior guard Geoff Sprouse opened the scoring with a midrange pull-up down in the lane to beat the shot clock buzzer. American then got a defensive stop and Sprouse immediately hit a transition 3-pointer. Keeping up the scoring momentum, sophomore forward Greg Jones scored a tough contested layup giving American an early 7-0 lead. The Eagles never looked back from their early lead and maintained that pace for the rest of the game. Harvard couldn’t tie the score throughout the entirety of the matchup, and they never held a lead.
Jones also showed great defensive ability getting an early steal, and immediately hit a wide open corner 3-pointer on the fast break with 14:07 left to go, putting the Eagles up 10-4. A minute later, Stephens drove through the lane for a layup for his first field goal of the season. The Crimson tried to get things going defensively, and were able to cut the Eagles’ lead to 5 with under eight minutes remaining on the clock. With the momentum seemingly on Harvard’s side, they forced an American turnover off a steal. Freshman forward Julen Iturbe drew a charge against Harvard, which helped cut down their momentum and protect their lead.
The Crimson tried numerous defensive schematics against the Eagles, but nothing they tried could slow down American’s offensive production. With seven minutes remaining on the clock, the Crimson began full court pressing the Eagles and even tried running a 2-3 zone. But American picked the zone apart, and collapsed Harvard’s defense to generate wide open looks, like a 3-pointer from the wing by Smalls with 44 seconds remaining in the half.
At halftime, American was up by 10 with a score of 35-25. They had strong offensive performances from Smalls who had 12 points, 2 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal and Sprouse, who had 8 points and 1 steal.
Throughout the second half, American kept fighting to extend their lead. But the Eagles really started to pull away with under 16 minutes remaining when Sprouse hit back to back 3-pointers both off of assists from Stephens which extended their lead to 13. As the half progressed, Harvard was on a cold streak offensively, and with 7:09 remaining, Jones hit another wide open 3-pointer extending the score 58-38. The lead was 20, their largest of the game and that was the deciding shot that drove the Eagles to a 67-55 victory.
Smalls led scoring with 16 points, 3 assists and 5 rebounds. Sprouse followed that up with 15 points, 1 assist and 2 rebounds and Jones recorded 11 points and 4 rebounds. In his season debut, Stephens put up 10 points, 5 assists and 2 rebounds.
“This past week, I’ve been practicing with the guys, slowly getting back into it, but it felt good to be back out there and being able to compete with my brothers,” Stephens said post game.
Eagles head coach Duane Simpkins was thrilled to have Stephens back on the floor.
“I thought he did a good job taking care of the basketball. I mean, we’re just a different team when he’s able to touch the paint. It makes Geoff Sprouse’s job much easier. Geoff is now able to get his feet set, knock down some threes, and I think he had 2 or 3 in a stretch right there. That’s all a byproduct of Elijah Stevens being in the mix,” Simpkins said post game.
Over the last two years, the Eagles have had to battle with numerous injuries, but Simpkins applauded Smalls and Jones for their bounce back and development after strong offensive and defensive performances from the players.
The Eagles head out on a long road stretch and won’t return to Bender until Dec.1 against Notre Dame of Maryland University. A notable game on their road stretch is against the number 10 ranked University of North Carolina Tar Heels on Nov. 15.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Delaney Hoke and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Charlie Mennuti.
