WASHINGTON - Six American University men's basketball players scored in double figures and the Eagles shot 56 percent as a team in a 84-73 win over Yale Saturday at Bender Arena.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 5-0 lead just over one minute into the contest, but AU scored the next 14 points to take a nine-point lead at the 14:48 mark of the first half. The teams traded buckets until Yale's Paul Vitelli and Edward Draughan sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a dunk by AU's Patrick Okpwae (Yaounde, Cameroon/Berkshire School [Fla.]) to pull the Bulldogs to within four points with 10 minutes left in the first stanza.
American then held the Bulldogs scoreless for nearly seven minutes while the Eagles embarked on an 18-0 run to take a 22-point lead with 4:36 remaining in the first half. American led by 17 points at halftime on the strength of 58 percent shooting in the first period. In addition, the Eagles outscored the Bulldogs 24-8 in the paint in the opening stanza and forced 13 first-half Yale turnovers, off of which the Eagles scored 22 points.
"This was a terrific effort by our guys today and I think we are beginning to gain some confidence," said American University head coach Jeff Jones. "A lot of guys contributed in a lot of different ways, and that made it a very good win today."
In the second half, Yale chipped away at the lead, coming within 11 points with 2:20 remaining, but got no closer the rest of the way. The Eagles maintained their lead by hitting 53 percent of the second-half shots, including going four-of-six from behind the arc.
The Eagles were led by 17 points and seven rebounds from Jernavis Draughn (Triangle, Va./Potomac Senior). Andres Rodriguez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Louisville) chipped in 14 points and seven assists, while Andre Ingram (Richmond, Va./Highland Springs) had 12 points, Jason Thomas (Herndon, Va./Notre Dame Academy) and Matej Cresnik (Velenje, Slovenia/Univerza V Ljubljani) had 11 points each and Raimondas Petrauskas (Mazeikiai, Lithuania/Lithuanian Physical Culture Acad.) had 10 points.
Yale's Dominick Martin led all scorers with 18 points. The Bulldogs fall to 4-7.
The Eagles, who improved to 6-7 on the season, return to action on Monday, Jan. 5, when they host Niagara beginning at 7 p.m.
