The American University men’s basketball team (17-10) defeated the Lafayette Leopards (10-17) to complete the season sweep, with a final score of 60-58 on Feb. 10 in Bender Arena.
The Eagles returned home to Bender after a two-game road trip, with a loss at Bucknell and a close win over Lehigh on Feb. 8.
“Having healthy guys is huge. It’s huge. And this is the first game since Siena [College] that we had our full complement of guys. But testament to the rest of the guys who had to hold things down,” head coach Duane Simpkins said.
The Eagles carried a one-game lead in the Patriot League heading into this contest and looked to create separation in the standings with Army West Point, who sat one win behind.
The Leopards headed into the matchup fresh off a home win against the Navy Midshipmen on Feb. 8.
Graduate student forward Matt Rogers won the tip, and sophomore forward Greg Jones wasted no time in giving American their first lead of the game with a quick turnaround post hook shot. Rogers carried that energy with another jump shot inside the paint to bring the score to 4-0 with 18:54 left.
Junior guard Geoff Sprouse, who came back from an injury last game, hit a huge 3-pointer to extend the early American lead 10-6 with 14:17 remaining. Sprouse needs four more made 3-pointers to crack the top-10 list of 3-point field goals made in program history.
Senior guard Elijah Stephens started to heat up after he cashed in a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer. Stephens followed that up with a quick layup where he blew by all the Lafayette defenders, adding to American’s 10-point lead with 9:41 left in the half.
With 28 seconds on the clock, graduate student guard Lincoln Ball pushed through the Leopard defense and delivered a layup, resulting in a 32-23 score. Lafayette needed a timeout to draw up their play: a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Lafayette drilled back-to-back baskets to open the second half, leaving the Eagles with a 1-point lead of 32-31.
In the second half, the Eagles went 0 for 9 from beyond the arc. They had to rely on their strength in the paint for layups and their ability to make free throws.
Graduate student guard Colin Smalls was quick to fight back as he smashed a layup inside the paint with an assist from Ball, widening the score to 34-31.
With 15:50 left to go, Lafayette sent sophomore forward Matt Mayock to the line, who sank 2 free throws, which were quickly answered by a Leopards layup.
With 8:28 remaining, the Leopards took their first lead of the night with 2 made free throws and a layup to bring the game to 47-44 in their favor.
Once the Leopards took the lead, American ran a full-court press in an attempt to stop a big scoring run. The Eagles managed to stay within striking distance as the half continued.
The back and forth continued until the Leopards brought the game to a 58-58 tie with only 23 seconds on the clock, which forced the Eagles to call a timeout and draw up their final play of the game.
Rogers got the ball on the wing and forced his way downhill to the paint, pulling up for the mid-range shot and swishing it to put the Eagles up 60-58 with only 3 seconds remaining in the game.
That shot was the dagger. Bender Arena faithfuls began serenading Rogers with loud chants of “MVP” as the Eagles won 60-58.
The matchup was one of the Eagles’ four nationally televised games.
“I just appreciate my coaches and my teammates for trusting me with being able to take that shot and have that ball in a moment like that,” Rogers said. “It’s awesome to be on national television. It’s awesome to hit a shot like that.”
Rogers led the team in scoring and rebounds, recording a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Jones and Stephens were right behind him in scoring with 11 points each, and Jones had a game-high 3 steals.
“The game’s never over, even if we’re down 3 with two minutes left,” Jones said. “You never know what’s going to happen. So [we’re] just always playing hard and making sure that we stick to what we do.”
Prior to facing Loyola Maryland in Bender Arena on Feb. 15., Simpkins emphasized preparing his team for the game with humility.
“We’re confident every game, but we talk to our guys all the time. One of our core values is humility, and we’re going to prepare against Loyola as if this is the championship game,” Simpkins said. “We’re not looking at their record or anything. We want to play our absolute best.”
The Eagles went on to defeat the Greyhounds 72-51. They next travel to face the Army Black Knights on Feb. 19 before returning home to play the Boston University Terriers on Feb. 22.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Penelope Jennings and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Hannah Langenfeld and Nicole Kariuki.
