The American University men’s basketball team (20-12) defeated the Lafayette Leopards (13-20), 71-69, in a nail-biter on March 6 in a Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal match in Bender Arena.
The Eagles tied with the Bucknell Bison for the Patriot League regular season championship, finishing with a 13-5 league record. This is the Eagles’ first regular season championship since 2009.
Graduate student guard Lincoln Ball got it started for the Eagles, as he cut backdoor for an easy layup. He followed up with a heavily contested shot-clock-beating 3-pointer, putting American up 5-4 with 18:08 remaining.
Early on, the Leopards’ game plan was to smother graduate student forward Matt Rogers, forcing the Eagles to search for other offensive options.
The Eagles found themselves down 17-11 with 12:26 before halftime but started to climb back.
Sophomore forwards Greg Jones and Matt Mayock carried the offensive load through the first half. Jones tied the game, cashing in a 3-pointer. Mayock drove in for a layup through traffic to take a 19-17 lead with 9:53 left.
The Leopards closed out the first half with hot shooting and great defense, going on a 14-3 run where the Eagles went scoreless for the last seven minutes of the half. At halftime, the Leopards led 32-23.
The Eagles immediately began showing signs of life in the second half. Jones immediately hit a corner 3-pointer with 19:52 remaining. Ball then got a steal and took it all the way for the fast break layup to cut the lead to 36-28 with 18:36 left to play.
Rogers hit his stride in the middle of the second half, helping the Eagles pull back into striking distance with a turnover and a 3-pointer. A layup from Ball sent Bender Arena into a frenzy as the Eagles had cut Lafayette's lead to 2 points with 11:24 to go.
On the next possession, freshman guard Wyatt Nausadis showcased his handles and hit a side-step 3-pointer, giving American their first lead in 17 minutes. Eagles up 52-51.
Though the Eagles had momentum in their favor, they couldn’t pull away just yet. They were down 61-59 after a Leopard layup with 5:55 to go.
However, back-to-back 3-pointers from junior guard Geoff Sprouse and Jones gave the Eagles the last nudge they needed to put them over the edge. American beat the Leopards 71-69.
The Bender Arena crowd was loud and on their feet for all 40 minutes of game time, proving why they have one of the best student sections in the Patriot League. As the clock expired, the crowd chanted, “start the buses,” as the Leopards walked off the court.
Jones led the team in scoring with 17 points. Ball followed that up with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal. Stephens had a team-high 5 assists.
“When they’re really focusing on Matt [Rogers], that opens things up for me. I’m appreciative of Matt because so much focus was on him so I could really go get mine,” Jones said.
Postgame, Ball reflected on the possibility of this game being his last in an Eagles jersey if they didn’t rally for the win.
“I think there's a good bit of intensity and desperation for us,” Ball said. “I'm playing with borrowed time right now, so I'm trying to make the most of every single second out there. That's really been in my head all season.”
More than 1,800 fans packed Bender Arena and had it buzzing with energy. Eagles head coach Duane Simpkins shared his appreciation for American fans.
“But how about our students, our fans? This place was electric today and we knew we were going to need everybody being down 11 points,” Simpkins said.
With this win, the Eagles advance to the Patriot League semifinals, where the Colgate Raiders travel to Bender Arena to meet them on March 9. The Raiders are coming off a blowout 84-55 win against Army. The Eagles have already beaten the Raiders twice this season and are confident they can do it again.
“We know Colgate is going to be an absolute war on Sunday, and it's going to be a battle, and it's going to be intense. But if we just focus on us, and do what we need to do to prepare for them, we give ourselves a chance to win,” Ball said.
This article was edited by Connor Sturniolo, Penelope Jennings and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks.
