LORETTO, Pa. - Andres Rodriguez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Louisville) had a career-high 18 points, including 14 in the second half, but it was not enough as the American University men's basketball team lost to St. Francis by 12, 75-63. American is 3-5 overall, while St. Francis is now 2-5.
American had gotten off to a fast start, and was up 21-7 10 minutes into the game. Eventually AU stretched the lead to 30-15 with 5:03 remaining as four different Eagles scored the nine points. However, St. Francis went on a 12-4 run to close out the first half, cutting the lead to just seven points, 34-27.
The Red Flash stayed hot after halftime, scoring 13 of the first 19 points of the half ,and for the first time since an early 2-2 tie, the two teams were knotted up. This time at 40 apiece. A layup by Rodriguez at 12:45 gave American its' last lead of night at 44-42. St. Francis quickly built an eight-point lead, and the Eagles could not get closer than three points the rest of the way.
Rodriguez was sensational for the Eagles. He was eight-of-nine from the field, dished out nine assists, picked up five rebounds and notched four steals in 37 minutes of action. Fellow senior Jernavis Draughn (Triangle, Va./Potomac Senior) chipped in 11 points on five-of-six shooting and he handed out four assists.
Linas Lekavicius (Silale, Lithuaniani/The Miller School) scored 10 points in 17 minutes on four-of-six shooting, including two-of-three from behind the arc. Raimondas Petrauskas (Mazeikiai, Lithuania/Lithuanian Physical Culture Academy) was off to a great start before early foul trouble kept him to just nine minutes of action. He had six points and five rebounds for the game, with all of it coming in the first half when he played seven minutes. Junior Patrick Okpwae (Yaounde, Cameroon/Berkshire School) scored nine points in 18 minutes. He was four-of-four from the field with three field goals scored on dunks.
"We are certainly disappointed with the loss, but we have to take our hats off to St. Francis," said American University head coach Jeff Jones. "They out hustled us and outplayed in every aspect of the game."
The Red Flash were led by Darshan Lucky, who had a game-high 23 points in 32 minutes. Darshan sealed the game by scoring seven of St. Francis' last nine points, including going five-of-six from the free throw line. Chris Jones was also solid with 17 points on four-of-five shooting in just 15 minutes of action.
AU will next play on Sunday, Dec. 21, when they play at Notre Dame. Game time is for 1 p.m.
