23 February, 2007
by Elliot Smilowitz
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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| Lafayette (9-20, 3-11 Patriot) |
29 |
38 |
67 |
| American (15-13, 7-7 Patriot) |
36 |
42 |
78 |
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On Senior Night in Washington D.C., it was seniors Andre Ingram and Brayden Billbe that led American to a 78-67 win over Lafayette. Ingram scored 25 points, a season high, and Billbe added 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The game began as a two-man battle, as Ingram scored American’s first 5 points and Matt Betley scored the first 7 for the Leopards. Early in the half, Andrew Brown made a very hard foul on Derrick Mercer, who was attempting a fast-break lay-up, resulting in a technical foul. It was a fairly clean game after that, with the teams combining for only two more shooting fouls all half. The Eagles used a 6-0 run midway through the first half to pull ahead 19-11. Two of American’s buckets came on their second chances, with Mercer picking up a loose ball and laying it in and Paulius Joneliunas putting in a jumper after a Linas Lekavicius offensive board.
After Lafayette made a 9-0 run (including 5 points from Ted Detmer) to cut within 41-40 moments into the second half, American responded with a 10-2 run to take command of the game. Seven of the 10 Eagle points came from Billbe, including a pair of dunks. It’s been said that Billbe plays better when he’s angry, and he was visibly displaying his emotions during this run. Lafayette inched closer once more, but the Eagles squashed their rally and won going away.
Betley scored 17 points to lead the Leopards. Mercer had a big game for American, with a season-high 17 points, 9 assists, 3 steal and 6 rebounds. The Eagles now await the results from this weekend to find out who they will be hosting in the first round, while Lafayette has clinched the No. 8 seed in the league tournament and will head to either Holy Cross or Bucknell.
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
A 7-2 Leopard run made the game 52-50 Eagles, but American responded with 8 unanswered points, highlighted by an Ingram transition three and a Billbe traditional three-point play. On Senior Night, the Eagle seniors led the team out of doldrums in the second half with big shots to create American’s lead.
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| Key sign it was over |
In the final 2 minutes, American outscored the desperate Leopards 9-5 as Lafayette could not get their shots to fall late. Ingram and Billbe put away breakaway lay-ups in the final minute to accent the win.
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| Key performance |
Billbe asserted himself in the second half as an interior force. Billbe finished with 20 points, a career high, and added 10 rebounds.
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| Key statistic |
The Leopards live and die by the three-pointer, and tonight it sunk them. Lafayette shot 8-of-28 from the arc.
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| Notes |
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American won the battle of the boards 41-34, and outscored Lafayette 17-10 in second-chance points.
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Travis Lay left with 5 minutes remaining after being hit in the face by an errant hand under the basket. He returned a few minutes later, after receiving medical attention on his face.
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The Eagles had 21 assists to 9 turnovers, Lafayette 20 assists to 11 turnovers.
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American outscored Lafayette 36-22 in the paint.
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