Elijah Stephens with the ball in a men's basketball game at Georgetown on Nov. 19, 2023
Roger Wimmer
83
American Americ 2-3,0-0 Patriot
88
Winner Georgetown GTown 3-2,0-0 Big East
American Americ
2-3,0-0 Patriot
83
Final
88
Georgetown GTown
3-2,0-0 Big East
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
American Americ 34 42 7 83
Georgetown GTown 35 41 12 88

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Men's Basketball Falls in Overtime at Georgetown

WASHINGTON - Bidding for its second-consecutive upset over local rival Georgetown, the American University men's basketball team came up just short in overtime at Capital One Arena, 88-83. American led for more than 27 minutes and never trailed by more than five in a tightly contested game. 

Notable Numbers
  • Four players reached double figures as part of a balanced scoring attack for the Eagles, who got nine different players on the board.
  • For the third straight game, senior Matt Rogers led the Eagles in scoring, hitting 6-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from the line for 17 points. He also led AU with nine rebounds.
  • Junior Elijah Stephens, senior Lincoln Ball and sophomore Geoff Sprouse all scored 12 points, with it being a career-high number for Ball.
  • Stephens nearly notched a double-double with a career-high nine assists, Sprouse hit 4-of-8 from beyond the arc, and Ball grabbed seven boards.
  • Freshman Matt Mayock scored nine points and five rebounds. With a minute left in regulation, Mayock hit the first two free-throw attempts of his career.
  • The Eagles out-rebounded Georgetown 38-32.
First Half
  • Neither team ever led by more than five in a tight, back-and-forth opening half. It was the Eagles who held a lead for over nine minutes, compared to just 6:34 for Georgetown.
  • Sprouse hit a trio of three-pointers in just the first five minutes, the third of which gave American a 14-11 lead.
  • The largest lead of the period for AU was four points, 17-13, after an old-fashioned three-point play for freshman Greg Jones near the 12-minute mark.
  • Georgetown answered that four-point lead with a 9-0 run to go up by five, 24-19, but the Eagles had an answer of their own.
  • Senior Lorenzo Donadio banked in a trey that was followed by a driving layup from senior Colin Smalls to cap a 7-0 run for AU, and neither team led by more than three in the final nine minutes.
  • Sprouse drained his fourth trey of the game at 4:14 for a 34-31 lead, but AU did not score the rest of the way.
  • The Hoyas had a dry spell as well, but hit back-to-back buckets near the 1-minute mark and had a 35-34 lead at the break.
Second Half
  • Rogers scored four points in a 9-0 run for American to start the second frame, with the Eagles holding Georgetown scoreless for nearly four minutes.
  • The shots stopped falling in a 1-for-7 stretch that saw Georgetown tie it up at 45-45 with 12:39 to go.
  • Mayock hit a three-pointer at 8:14 that capped a 7-0 run for the Eagles, giving them their first 10-point lead of 57-47.
  • The largest lead of the game for AU came a short time later on a three-point play for sophomore Jermaine Ballisager Webb who put the Eagles up 60-49.
  • After the Hoyas pulled back within seven, Donadio hit another three-pointer from the corner for the Eagles' last 10-point lead, 65-55 at 4:30 on the clock.
  • With 24 seconds left, Rogers missed the second of two free throws but got the rebound, putback and the foul before turning it into a four-point play that had the Eagles on top 75-70.
  • Back at the other end, though, Georgetown's Jayden Epps couldn't miss.
  • In the final 50 seconds, Epps drained three triples, the second after Rogers' four-point play and the last of which tied the game 76-76 with five seconds remaining.
  • The Eagles were unable to get a strong shot off, and the game went to overtime.
Overtime
  • Stephens hit AU's first bucket of overtime to tie the game at 78-78, but it would prove to be the final field goal for the Eagles.
  • AU went 5-of-6 from the line the rest of the way, but the Hoyas went 6-for-7 while also hitting two more shots from the field.
  • Down three with a minute left, AU had its chances with three offensive rebounds and a steal, but could not get a shot to fall.
  • The Hoyas hit 2-of-2 at the line on their final possession with seven seconds left, and that was the game.


Next Up
  • American will play at home in the second game of a women's and men's doubleheader on Wednesday, Nov. 22. The men will tip at 4:30 p.m. against Mount St. Mary's.

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