29 November, 2006
by Elliot Smilowitz
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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| NJIT (2-4) |
32 |
18 |
50 |
| American (5-2) |
36 |
39 |
75 |
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After a back-and-forth first half, American used a big second half to secure a 75-50 victory over NJIT. The Eagles outscored the Highlanders 39-18 in the second half.
The Eagles used big performances from their three Lithuanian-born players. Arvydas Eitutavicius led all scorers with 20 points, Linas Lekavicius added 16 points, and Paulius Joneliunas chipped in 12 points and 5 rebounds. NJIT was led by Andrew Engel’s 16 points.
American jumped out to an 11-2 lead, with five different players scoring for the Eagles in that run. NJIT ran off a 7-0 run to get back in the game, and took the lead a few times in the first half, the last of which was a 32-31 lead in the closing minutes of the first half. But 5 points from Eitutavicius to close out the half keyed a 17-3 Eagle run that put American in the driver’s seat for good. The Highlanders never again came within 10 points of American.
The Eagles’ strong offensive performance came despite a scoreless night from Andre Ingram, who was leading the team with 14.7 points per game entering the night.
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
Coming out to start the second half, American scored 8 consecutive points. Lekavicius and Derrick Mercer hit a pair of shots while NJIT missed two. Lekavicius missed a shot, but Joneliunas tipped it in. On the other end, Brayden Billbe blocked a Highlander shot in the paint, leading to a Joneliunas dunk to cap off the run. The 8 points were part of a 17-3 run that spanned the two halves.
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| Key sign it was over |
With 7:07 left, coming off a time-out, American led 58-44. The Eagles fumbled the inbounds, but Mercer recovered the ball and ran the length of the court for a lay-up and foul. He hit the free throw. After an NJIT miss, Brian Gilmore hit a three-pointer in the corner. These two buckets sparked a 10-0 run that put American up 24 with under 5 minutes left in the game.
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| Key performance |
Mercer controlled the game from the point guard position for American. He finished with 13 points (including 7-of-7 free throw shooting), 7 assists, 3 boards and 4 steals. Every time the Eagles were in an offensive groove he was keying it.
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| Key statistic |
In the second half, the Highlanders were held to 35.0 percent shooting from the floor, including 2 of 9 from the arc. On the other hand, American hit 52.0 percent of second-half field goals, and 3 of 5 three-point attempts.
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| Notes |
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Ingram, a four-year starter for American, had never been held scoreless before tonight. His previous career low was 2, at Lehigh last season.
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On the topic of scoreless nights, Marc Milbourne Swan and Clayton Barker both put up zeros from the starting lineup for the Highlanders.
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Eitutavicius’s 20 points were a season high. He has broken 20 only three other times in his career, all last season.
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The Eagles shot 18-for-22 from the free throw stripe. NJIT struggled to an 8-of-18 line on free throws.
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American outrebounded NJIT 33-24. The Eagles had 12 points on 9 offensive rebounds; the Highlanders scored just 4 points on 7 offensive boards.
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