Feb. 10, 2008
WASHINGTON - The American University men's basketball team took sole possession of first place in the Patriot League as junior forward Brian Gilmore scored a career-high 26 points to lead American to a 82-74 win over Lehigh Sunday in Bender Arena.
The Eagles, who move to 14-10 overall and 6-3 in the PL, are in first place in the league for the first time since the 2003-04 season, when AU shared the regular season league title with Lehigh. The win was American's third in a row, its longest win streak of the season.
American continued the offensive tear it's been on as of late. The Eagles shot over 50 percent for the third straight game, this time surpassing the 60 percent barrier by hitting 30-of-49 shots (.612). The Eagles' hot shooting in the first half (17-of-25; 68.0 percent) gave them a 42-31 advantage at the break. Junior guard Garrison Carr was a big part of that, hitting his first seven shots and scoring 17 points in the opening period. Meanwhile, Gilmore was also on fire, hitting five-of-six from the floor. Gilmore and Carr combined for 30 of the Eagles 42 first-half points.
AU built its lead to as large as 19 points in the second period on a layup by Carr at the 14:27 mark. The Eagles' lead held between 13 and 17 points for much of the second half, until the Mountain Hawks made a late charge, getting to within six points with just under a minute left on a desperation three-pointer by Marquis Hall that banked in. However, the Eagles hit five-of-six free throws in the last 45 seconds to seal the win.
Lehigh, which falls to 11-11 overall and 4-4 in the Patriot League, was led by Hall's 20 points. Rob Keefer added 16 points.
American is now a half-game ahead of Lafayette in the PL standings. However, the league is bunched up at the top. Six teams are within 1 ½ games of first place. All eight PL teams have at least 10 wins, with AU and Lafayette tied at the top with 14 wins a piece.
Gilmore's 26 points, which came on 10-of-14 shooting and included three three-pointers in four attempts, bested his previous career-high of 16, which he had scored twice earlier this season. He also added six rebounds, two assists and a steal. Carr added 22 points, including four three-pointers, which gives him 98 three-pointers this season. He is one shy of tying the Patriot League single-season record for threes, set by Mark Leuking of Army in the 1995-96 season. Carr tied a career-high with eight rebounds and chipped in three assists and a steal. He also played 40 minutes for the third consecutive game.
Cornelio Guibunda finished two points away from his career-high, notching 11 points, four rebounds and two blocks in just 21 minutes.
"Brian [Gilmore] has been playing very well of late," Head Coach Jeff Jones said. "He and Cornelio [Guibunda] have combined to be the two most improved players for us in recent games."
As a team, the Eagles outrebounded Lehigh 34-26 and the Eagles' bench outscored LU's, 34-12.
"We stressed that we needed to win the rebounding contest," Jones said. "Although we beat them on the road, we lost the rebounding edge that game and emphasized that we needed to attack the glass if we were to be successful today."
The Eagles hit 10 three-pointers as a team, giving them 21 three-pointers against the Mountain Hawks this year. American has made 21-of-35 (.600) three-pointers against LU this season.
The win gives American a season sweep of the Mountain Hawks for the third time since joining the league in 2001.
American stays at home for its next game, when it hosts Bucknell on Wednesday in Bender Arena at 7:30 p.m.
"Wednesday night's game will be another chance, like today and against Holy Cross, for us to break a streak and beat a team that we haven't beaten in a while," Jones said.
Tickets for the game are available by clicking here or by calling (202) 885-TIXX. Fans that are unable to make the game can watch it live via Eagle Vision All*Access. Click here for more information, to watch or to subscribe.
