WASHINGTON - The American University men's basketball team went up 16 points at the half (32-16) and eventually defeated the University of North Carolina-Greensboro by 20 points, 65-45. Andres Rodriguez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Louisville) led the way with 16 points, 10 assists and four steals in 39 minutes of action.
The two teams traded baskets for the first three minutes of the game before the Eagles went on an 13-1 run. It began with a Jernavis Draughn (Triangle, Va./Potomac Senior), which gave AU its second lead of the game at 5-4. AU would not trail again. Raimondas Petrauskas (Mazeikiai, Lithuania/Lithuanian Physical Culture Academy) follwed with a jumper at the end of the shot clock and then Linas Lekavicius (Silale, Lithuania/The Miller School) scored four straight points. A Rodriguez three put AU up nine points (14-5), and Patrick Okpwae (Yaounde, Cameroon/Berkshire School) finished the run with layup off of a Rodriguez feed.
As the first half came to a close, the Eagles pushed its lead to 16 when Rodriguez stole the ball, and went in for a layup with 33 seconds left. UNCG's Ronnie Taylor turned the ball over with 11 seconds left and Matej Cresnik (Velenje, Slovenia/Univerza V Ljubljani) hit a three-pointer as the half ended.
The second half started with the Eagles going on a 16-4 run with Rodriguez finding the hoop for seven of his 16 total points of the day. AU continued to dominate later in the half, as Okpwae dunked the ball off from a missed lay-up to put the Eagles up 65-37 with 2:31 left to play. UNCG rallied in the final minutes, scoring the last nine points of the game.
"Today we just gave a much better effort than we did the last game. We were ready to play," said American University head coach Jeff Jones. "We were aggressive and had some energy early and that made a difference."
Jason Thomas (Herndon, Va./Notre Dame Academy) scored 14 points and grabbed five boards for the Eagles. Draughn finished with seven rebounds and seven points while Cresnik had nine points and four rebounds.
Ray Bristow posted a game-high 20 points for UNCG and was the only Spartan in double figures.
The Eagles are now 2-4 overall and will next play at Howard University on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.
