RADFORD, Va. - American University men's basketball captured its first victory of the season Tuesday, 83-69 over host Radford University.
The Eagles jumped out to an early lead, scoring the game's first nine points. American then used hot shooting -- 18-of-25 (72 percent) in the first half, including nine-of-12 from three-point range -- to jump out to a 51-27 lead at halftime. Jason Thomas (Herndon, Va./Notre Dame Academy (Mass.) scored seven of AU's first nine points and finished with a career-high 23 points.
Thomas hit a three-pointer just 17 seconds into the game. After a Jernavis Draughn (Triangle, Va./Potomac Senior) layup Thomas took an outlet pass from Andres Rodriguez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Louisville) and dunked. Thomas then stole the ball and went in for a layup to give AU a 9-0 lead just 1:32 into the contest. Thomas scored 15 of his 23 points in the first half on six-of-seven shooting. Overall, Thomas was nine-for-12 shooting, including three-of-six from behind the arc. He also added two steals and two rebounds.
"We needed to get a win tonight to stop the bleeding a little bit," said American University head coach Jeff Jones. "We still have a long way to go, but tonight was a good start."
Andre Ingram (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs) scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half. Ingram drained all four three-pointers he attempted on the night while fellow freshman Linas Lekavicius (Silale, Lithuaniani/The Miller School (Va.) scored all eight of his points in the first half.
Rodriguez played his finest game of the year for the Eagles. He played all 40 minutes, grabbed seven rebounds, scored eight points and dished out a career-high 11 assists. The 11 assists also lifts Rodriguez to ninth on AU's all-time career assist list. Draughn also put in another outstanding effort for the Eagles with 16 points and five rebounds.
The Eagles maintained their hot hand in the second stanza, hitting nearly 48 percent, to maintain the lead. For the game, the Eagles shot 60.4 percent. Radford fell behind by as many as 26 points in the second half. However, the Highlanders put together a run and trailed by just 12 points with 2:32 remaining left in the game. Andre Bynum missed a three-pointer that could have brought them within single digits, but Matej Cresnik (Velenje, Slovenia/Univerza V Ljubljani) grabbed the rebound and the Eagles quickly pushed the lead back to 16 and closed out the game. American is now 1-3 while Radford falls to 3-2.
American finished with 11 threes, which is the ninth highest total any AU team has had in a game.
The Highlanders were led by a standout performance by Whit Holcomb-Faye, who finished with 27 points on eight-of-18 shooting. Olumuyiwa Popoola finished with 12 points in 20 minutes of action.
AU will next play on Thursday, Dec.4, when they play at Elon. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
