The American University men's basketball team came out strong for Phil Bender 2011, defeating Lafayette 73-60 Saturday in Bender Arena. The Eagles have now won 13 straight against the Leopards, the longest active streak in the Patriot League.

"It's a terrific win for us and we're excited about it," Head Coach Jeff Jones said after the game. "We wanted the guys to respond – and they did."

Reigning Patriot League Player of the Week Stephen Lumpkins played another excellent game, finishing with 21 points, nine rebounds and matched his career-high with four blocks. Vlad Moldoveanu and Troy Brewer chipped in 17 and 13, respectively, as the Eagles shot 53.3 percent from three-point range. Nick Hendra also turned in a solid performance, recording nine points and a career-best seven assists. Jared Mintz led Lafayette (8-14, 3-4 PL) with 12 points.

The victory improves the Eagles to 15-7 overall and 5-2 in the Patriot League. Coupled with Bucknell's 90-70 loss at Army, American is now just one game back of the Bison for first place in the conference.

American (15-7, 5-2 PL) converted its first three shots and opened up the game with a 17-6 run. Moldoveanu and Brewer combined to go 5 of 6 from beyond the arc and Lumpkins added an emphatic dunk on the run. Lafayette's Rob Delaney ended the streak with a three, but five straight points by Lumpkins made it 24-11 with 10:37 remaining in the half.

Lafayette guard Jim Mower and American's Hendra exchanged threes with 10 minutes remaining, giving the Eagles their sixth three of the half. The teams continued to trade possessions until Hendra threw a full court pass to a streaking Brewer, who turned it into an acrobatic dunk that put American up 33-21 with 4:44 to play. The Leopards scored only one more basket in the half and American entered the break with a 37-23 advantage.

The Eagles shot 53.6 percent in the first half and converted six of their 10 three-point attempts. Moldoveanu led all scorers with 15 points while no Leopard had more than five at the break. Lumpkins notched three blocks and solidified an American defense that held Lafayette to only 36.0 percent shooting.

"We played really, really well in the first half. There wasn't anything that we did that wasn't at a high level," Jones said.

Senior guard Steve Luptak knocked down a three-pointer to begin the second half. After a pair of buckets by Mintz, freshman Tony Wroblicky put back a missed shot to expand the Eagles lead to a game-high 19, 45-27 with 15:36 remaining.

The Leopards responded with five straight points by Mintz and Ryan Willen. After a six-point spurt by American, Lafayette got back on track with a 15-9 run over the next five minutes. A Lumpkins dunk with 4:20 left pushed the Eagles' lead back to 13, 62-49. The Eagles' lead seemed safe until Mower attacked the basket with 2:38 left in the game to pull the Leopards to within nine for the first time since 12:28 in the first half. American secured the victory down the stretch at the free-throw line, however, hitting 9 of their last 10 en route to the 73-60 victory.

Lafayette's Nick Petkovich was held to only two points after tallying 18 in the Leopards' last game against Army. As a team, Lafayette shot 43.5 percent from the field while the Eagles held a 35-26 rebounding advantage.

Hendra has scored at least eight points in every conference game this season and tallied a season-high seven assists on Saturday. American has not lost to Lafayette in Bender Arena since 2004.

The Eagles will take a full week off before returning to action Sunday, February 6 at Lehigh live on CBS College Sports. Tipoff from Easton, Pa. is slated for 2:00 p.m.

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