The American University men’s basketball team (6-4) defeated their D.C. crosstown rivals, The George Washington Revolutionaries, (7-2) 81-71 in Bender Arena, debuting their new black uniforms on Dec. 4.
Graduate guard Colin Smalls was the hero of this game after he hit a heavily contested game tying buzzer beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation to send the match to overtime, which the Eagles eventually won.
Riding on a four game win streak and an undefeated trip in the Puerto Rico Classic games, American headed into the game looking to not fall to .500 in non-conference play.
George Washington fans travelled to Bender in numbers, looking to support the Revolutionaries amidst their three game win streak in the highly anticipated crosstown rivalry. George Washington came into the game 7-1 with an impressive scoring margin of +11.0, making this matchup a big early season test for the Eagles.
The last time these two squads met on Dec. 10, 2022, American defeated George Washington on their home court 69-64.
At the top of the game, the Revolutionaries won the tip and scored a layup on their first possession of the game. Graduate forward Matt Rogers responded with a 3-pointer for American's first bucket of the game. Senior guard Elijah Stephens followed that up with a 3-pointer of his own after that to take a 6-4 lead with 17:30 remaining in the half.
American and George Washington played with a lot of energy on both sides of the ball, but American failed to protect the basketball. The Revolutionaries forced 12 Eagle turnovers in the first half alone, but weren’t able to capitalize on them, only converting 4 points.
With 11:28 remaining in the first half the Eagles were trailing 9-12, but sophomore forward Greg Jones hit a game-tying 3-pointer. A minute later, he received a nice pass from sophomore forward Matt Mayock to hit another 3-pointer and took on a 15-14 lead.
Unfortunately for American, Stephens took an elbow directly to the face off as a George Washington player tried to get a shot up near the end of the first half. Stephens immediately fell to the floor and began bleeding from his forehead. The coaching staff assisted him and took him to the locker room. He did not return to the game. The officials reviewed the play for a possible offensive flagrant foul, but they determined that there was no foul. After the game, Eagles head coach Duane Simpkins said that Stephens was okay, but he received stitches on his forehead.
The first half was tight, and neither team’s momentum could allow them to put some separation on the scoreboard. There were a total of nine lead changes in the half alone, but American began to build momentum after freshman forward Julen Iturbe soared up for a block that sent Bender into a frenzy with 1:13 remaining.
As the half came to a close, American forced a George Washington turnover and, in the last possession of the half, Rogers pulled up from 3 for the buzzer-beater. The Eagles went into half-time with a 28-22 lead.
Smalls opened the scoring in the second half with a 3-pointer, and Jones followed that up with a putback layup of his own. With 17:42 remaining, Smalls stole the ball and took it all the way up the court for a tough fast break layup to give the Eagles a 35-22 lead, their largest of the game.
The Revolutionaries didn’t go away without a fight. They slowly chipped away at the lead.
With 11:24 remaining, Smalls, who missed a layup, was seemingly fouled and bumped by a George Washington defender, but there was no foul called, which made the Simpkins and the entire bench furious. On the next play, a foul was called on American’s defense, and Simpkins immediately called for a time-out and stormed the court to argue with the referees.
“I was pretty pissed because I thought we had some calls that went against us, or just no calls. And they (George Washington) went on the other end, and they got some. And it was a critical time,” Simpkins said postgame.“I knew we were just holding on for damn dear life because I knew they were making a run. I just wanted us to get to the free throw line.”
With 9:32 remaining, freshman forward Eric Michaels was called for a goaltending violation after an attempted block, which cut the lead to 43-39.
The Revolutionaries retook the lead for the first time in the half with 5:45 remaining. They were up 50-51, but Smalls wouldn’t let the team go down, regaining the lead on a tough layup and foul call with 4:51 remaining.
From this point out, both teams were in the bonus and there were many fouls exchanged by both, but neither team converted enough points at the free throw line to put some separation on the score. In the second half, George Washington shot 12-21 and American shot 6-10 from the free throw line.
With 37 seconds remaining on the clock, the Eagles were down by 2 and Mayock missed a fadeaway mid-range shot that would’ve tied the game. The Eagles were forced to foul after that missed shot and sent a George Washington player to the line. He went 1-2 extending the lead to 57-60.
American called timeout with 14.5 seconds remaining. Rogers passed the ball to Smalls on the wing. A George Washington defender poked the ball out of his hands, but Smalls recovered. As time was running out, Smalls dribbled the ball back to the wing and shot a Hail Mary 3-pointer that swished in and tied the game, sending it to overtime.
Postgame, Smalls described what he was thinking before his game-tying shot.
“The play wasn't really designed for me. So shout out to number 4. He made a great defensive play, threw up our rhythm,” he said. “I had to grab the ball, make sure it wasn't a turnover. I looked at the shot clock. I think it was about four seconds left. Had to get one up.”
Overtime wasn’t as close as the second half was, though. American immediately pulled away, with Rogers scoring their first 8 points of the period. That drove the Eagles to the finish line, and they sealed off George Washington 81-71.
Smalls led scoring with a career-high of 26 points, 2 assists and 2 steals. Rogers followed that up with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block and 1 assist. Jones recorded American’s first double-double of the season, putting up 16 points, 10 rebounds and 1 steal. Mayock scored 9 points, pulled in 8 rebounds and got 5 assists. Against his former team, graduate guard Lincoln Ball recorded 5 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
So far this season, the Eagles have been undefeated at home.
“We want to try to protect our court. Our last five games, we lost here last year. And we obviously have some extenuating circumstances with injuries and everything, but at all cost, you got to protect your house. It's always good to be able to see the smiles on the students' faces, the enthusiasm that they have when you win and playing well. It's priceless man,” Simpkins said.
Though the Eagles blew a 13-point lead, coming back and securing the win was a valuable lesson for the team.
“It shows us that we can fight through adversity. We’ve got a bunch of good teams in the Patriot League, so they're going to challenge us. They're going to give us their best shot, just how we're going to give them our best shot. We'll be good in Patriot League play. Hopefully, we get you a Patriot League championship,” Smalls said.
The Eagles will try to extend their win streak to six against Saint Joseph’s on Dec.15.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Delaney Hoke and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Emma Brown, Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Nicole Kariuki.
