The American University men's basketball team outscored St. Francis (Pa.) 35-16 in the second half Friday to earn a 62-52 win in Bender Arena on opening night.

Preseason All-Patriot League selection Vlad Moldoveanu led all scorers with 24 points and also chipped in six rebounds and two blocks. Junior transfer Troy Brewer notched 12 in his first regular season game as an Eagle, while sophomore guard Daniel Munoz finished with 10 points. Mislav Jukic led St. Francis with 21 points.

American (1-0) got off to a sluggish start and allowed the Red Flash to quickly accumulate a 9-0 lead. The Eagles finally broke through for their first basket of the season when junior Stephen Lumpkins maneuvered his way through the paint for a layup. American would later outscore St. Francis (0-1) 10-2 during a four-minute run, pulling to within one, 13-12.

Jukic and St. Francis pushed the lead back to nine with 7:21 remaining, 23-14. Brewer heated up in the closing moments, scoring six points in a three-minute span, but the Red Flash entered the locker room at the half with a 26-27 lead.

St. Francis (0-1) shot 69.6 percent from the field in the first half to American's 38.5 percent. Jukic led all scorers with 13 points, while Moldoveanu and Brewer paced the Eagles with 10 and eight, respectively.

American came out of the half firing on all cylinders and scored the frame's first seven points. Jukic and guard Umar Shannon kept the Red Flash ahead until the 12:07 mark, when a Moldoveanu trey tied the game at 40. The senior gave American its first lead one minute later with a strong putback under the rim, 42-40.

The Eagles would hold on to the lead for the remainder of the game, answering an Anthony Ervin three with a Moldoveanu trey to go on top 49-45. A Munoz three-pointer on the team's next possession grew the American lead to six with five minutes remaining. Moldoveanu would go on to score six points in the final 2:26, helping American to the 62-52 final.

"That was a really physical, hard played opening game," Head Coach Jeff Jones commented during his postgame press conference. "I'm certainly not pleased with how we played all the time but I'm very pleased with the fact that we were able to respond in the second half and come up with the win. We talked about the kind of team that we want to be, and what that takes. It wasn't just by shooting a bunch of three's and trying to outscore them, we had to go toe-to-toe with them and do it our defense, do it with our rebounding and we had to be more disciplined at the offensive end."

The Eagles shot 43.1 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Red Flash 34-32. American also held statistical advantages in assists (12-9), forced turnovers (17-12) and steals (7-5). Senior guard Nick Hendra scored only five points but turned in a solid overall performance, tallying six rebounds, six assists and three steals.

The Eagles will hit the road Monday, November 15 for a match up against Albany at 7:00 p.m. They will then return home on Wednesday, November 17 to face the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore at 7:30 p.m.

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