Nov. 17, 2008
WASHINGTON - The American University men's basketball team earned a resounding victory over St. Francis (Pa.) on Monday night, 67-46, in the team's home opener. Garrison Carr scored a game-high 28 points for the Eagles, including 19 in the second half, as Brian Gilmore and Derrick Mercer chipped in 13 points and 11 points, respectively.
"I felt we were efficient with our shots in the first half and that helped us get out to an early lead," Head Coach Jeff Jones said. "Garrison missed a few shots early but he made zero turnovers in the first half and played exceptional defense. The rest of the team passed the ball well and rebounded and that helped us overcome the misses."
American (1-1) jumped out to an early lead in the opening minutes of the first half using aggressive defense and transition offense. Leading 8-7, Nick Hendra forced a turnover which led to a Mercer fast break layup. On the ensuing possession Hendra recorded a second steal and took it the length of the court for the lay-in to move the score to 12-7 at 13:26. By the second media timeout the Eagles defense had already forced seven St. Francis turnovers which resulted in six American points.
The Eagles began to build their lead a little over midway through the frame as Carr started and finished a 10 point AU run. Leading by three, 17-14, Carr hit a bucket in the paint at 7:03 to move the score to 19-14 and Mercer connected on a three on the very next possession to make it an eight-point game, 22-14. Carr gave AU a 10 point lead, 24-14, two possessions later on a layup in the lane and capped off the run with 4:00 remaining as Stephen Lumpkins found him on an outlet pass for an and-one to take a 13 point lead, 27-14. Heading into the half, Lumpkins helped to preserve an 11 point, 31-19, advantage for the Eagles as he rejected two Jukic jumpers as time expired.
American carried its momentum out of the intermission and into the second half as the team quickly built its lead from 12 points to 20 and capped off a 10-2 run with a half court alley-oop from Carr to Gilmore which sent the crowd of 2,123 inside of Bender Arena into a frenzy. Jordan Nichols forced the action as he stole the ball from Jukic down low and sent an outlet pass to Carr near mid-court. Carr then turned and found Gilmore streaking down the right side of the court for the slam.
Nichols was again at the center of the action just minutes later as he assisted on a Carr three to put the Eagles back up by 20, 44-24. On the ensuing possession, Nichols recorded his second steal in as many minutes which led to another Carr three to put AU up by 23, 47-24, at 14:25. Carr's back-to-back treys kicked off a scoring spree for the senior in the second half, as he made five-consecutive three's before missing his last attempt and scored a total of 19 points in the frame.
Up 55-34 with 8:10 remaining, the Eagles suddenly found themselves in the midst of a near four-minute drought and watched as their lead slipped from 21 points to 15, 55-40. Carr put an end to the skip with a three-pointer at 4:30 to regain an 18 point advantage for AU and kick off a 10 point run. Carr hit yet another three courtesy of a Mercer assist on American's next trip down the court before Gilmore and Borden added a pair of free throws each, giving the Eagles their largest lead of the night, 65-40. American closed out its scoring on a Riley Graft jumper with three seconds remaining to take the 67-46 victory.
Carr led all scorers in the game with 28 points, including 19 in the second half. After starting the game 0-6 from behind the arc, Carr turned it on in the second half and made five-consecutive threes and 6-of-8 total from the field. Mercer played a solid all-around game for the Eagles as he scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting, dished out four assists and was credited with three steals.
"After the last game I sat Derrick and Garrison down and challenged them to be the leaders of this team," Jones said of the seniors. "I think they both stepped up and did a good job in that respect tonight."
Gilmore rounded out AU's double-digit scorers as he added 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting and tallied three assists. American shot a combined 24-of-44 (54.5%) from the field in the win and 13-of-16 (81.3%) from the line. Defensively, the Eagles forced 15 turnovers, including 11 steals, and limited the Red Flash to just 17-of-49 (34.7%) shooting from the field.
American will be back in action this Wednesday, Nov. 19, as they travel across town to take on Howard at 7 p.m.
