Jan. 2, 2009

Box Score

WASHINGTON - The American University men's basketball team rolled to a 68-53 victory over Brown Friday night in Bender Arena, shooting 54.3 percent (25-46) from the field and 50.0 percent (9-18) from three. Garrison Carr, playing in his 100th career game at AU, scored a game-high 22 points and matched his career-high with four assists to pace the Eagles. Derrick Mercer added 11 points and a game-high six rebounds.

Garrison Carr and Derrick Mercer carried the load early for American (7-6) as the backcourt duo combined to score all 12 of the Eagles first 12 points. Carr was first to get on the board with a 15 foot jumper and three-pointer to give American its first lead of the game, 5-3. After Brown was able to retake the lead, Mercer scored AU's next five points with two free-throws and a three-pointer of his own, bringing the Eagles to within one of the lead, 11-10. Carr hit another jumper on American's next possession to regain the lead for AU, 12-11, with 13:18 to play.

After a brief 5-0 run put Brown ahead by four, 16-12, American quickly caught up to and then pulled away from the Bears, scoring eight straight points to take a 20-16 lead with 6:54 on the clock. Four different Eagles scored during the run, including a lay-in by Jordan Nichols with just over eight minutes remaining to retake the lead, 18-16. Brown put an end to the AU run and pulled to within one, 20-19, with a basket and a free-throw but would get no closer as American opened nine point lead, 28-19, with a second 8-0 run. Lumpkins began the run with a basket in the paint and added a second lay-in before Brian Gilmore finished the run off with a jumper with 2:09 to play. Bryce Simon capped off AU's first half scoring on a three from the right wing with under one minute to play, giving American its largest lead of the half, 33-21. A Morgan Kelly trey for the Bears cut AU's lead to nine heading into the half, 33-24.

Carr began the second half just as he had the first, connecting on his first two three-point attempts to help American to a 39-26 lead. AU pushed its lead to as many as 15 points on a Lumpkins baby hook, 47-32, with 14:33 remaining. Brown cut AU's lead to 10, 57-47, on an Adrian Williams three but AU quickly answered right back with a layup from Nichols and jumper from Gilmore to push the lead back to 15, 62-49, with 6:19 to play.

Down the stretch it was Carr who stepped up for the Eagles, scoring on three-consecutive possessions to negate two Brown buckets and give AU its biggest lead of the night, 68-51. Carr connected on his fifth trey of the evening to give AU a 65-49 advantage and then hit one of two free-throws to move the score to 66-49. On the Eagles following possession Carr made a driving layup to push the lead to 68-51, sealing the victory with 4:19 to play. Brown managed just two more points in the game as American walked off the court with a 68-53 win.

Carr led all scorers with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and 5-of-7 shooting from three. Carr also matched his career-high with four assists and grabbed three rebounds while making his 100th career appearance as an Eagle. Mercer was the Eagles second leading scorer with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting and pulled down a game-high six rebounds. Nichols rounded out AU's double-digit scorers with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Gilmore, who was also making his 100th career appearance at American, scored six points and matched Mercer with six rebounds.

As a team, the Eagles combined to shoot 54.3 percent (25-46) from the field and 50.0 percent (9-18) from three. Defensively, AU held Brown to just 34.8 percent (16-46) shooting from the field and 30.0 percent (6-20) from three.

American will return to action this Monday, Jan. 4, at home against Columbia University. Tipoff from Bender is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.