28 January, 2007
by Elliot Smilowitz
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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| American (11-10, 3-4 Patriot) |
32 |
41 |
73 |
| Lafayette (8-14, 2-5 Patriot) |
28 |
31 |
59 |
| Kirby Sports Center – Easton, PA |
Boxscore |
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The American Eagles won their first road game since Dec. 6, downing Lafayette 73-59. Andre Ingram scored 23 points to lead the Eagles, who move into a tie for fourth place in the Patriot League with the win.
The game was a close battle in the first half; both teams opened up 5-point leads but neither could pull away. Lafayette went up by a score of 17-12 on an Andrew Brown three-pointer, but American responded with a 10-0 run that turned their 5-point deficit into a 5-point lead. The run included a three-point shot from Ingram as well as 3 made free throws when he was fouled by Everest Schmidt shooting behind the arc.
American took a slim lead into halftime, but never gave up that lead in the second half, and ballooned their edge to 7 points quickly. The Eagles went up by double digits for the first time with 7:16 left in the game, and never again led by less than 10.
American got 34 bench points, with Travis Lay providing 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Brayden Billbe, back in the starting lineup after being benched last game, tallied 9 points and 5 rebounds before fouling out. Lafayette got 12 points each from Matt Betley and Brown. The Leopards uncharacteristically struggled from long range, shooting 7-for-22 as a team on threes.
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
An Andre Hines basket with 14:39 left in the second half brought Lafayette within 1 point. After American missed a basket, the Leopards had a chance to take a lead, but Paul Cummins missed a three-pointer. On the other end of the court, Arvydas Eitutavicius nailed a three, and after Lafayette missed a shot, Eitutavicius hit another three, putting American up 7.
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| Key sign it was over |
With 4:46 left, Lafayette had the ball with a chance to cut their deficit to single digits. Andrew Brown missed a jumper, and Ingram got the rebound and was fouled. He missed the front end of a one-and-one, but the Eagles corralled the ball, leading to an Ingram three-pointer that put American up 13 with 4:05 to go.
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| Key performance |
As he always does, Ingram played well against the Leopards, finishing with 23 points, 6 three-pointers, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
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| Key statistic |
American outscored Lafayette in the paint 32-24, and hit 3 more three-pointers than the Leopards in the same number of attempts. They beat them on the inside and the outside.
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| Notes |
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Sekou Lewis and Jordan Nichols, who both got their second consecutive starts, finished with a combined 3 points and 5 rebounds for American. The players they replaced in the starting lineup, Lay and Eitutavicius, combined for 28 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists off the bench.
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American outrebounded Lafayette 37-27. The Eagles got 10 offensive rebounds, compared to just 2 for the Leopards.
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American had 16 assists to 11 turnovers, Lafayette 10 assists to 12 turnovers.
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American plays two games this week, traveling to Holy Cross on Wednesday before hosting Lehigh Saturday night. Lafayette is off until Saturday, when they travel to Holy Cross.
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