WASHINGTON - Fueled by a dominant, 63-point second-half performance, American University men's basketball defeated Hood College 103-74 to stay perfect in four games at home in Bender Arena this season. The Eagles trailed by a thin, two-point margin at the half, but a 33-12 run in the first 10 minutes of the second half gave American an insurmountable advantage.
Notable Numbers
- Senior Geoff Sprouse led the Eagles with a career-high 26 points, shooting 8-for-15, including 7-for-13 from behind the arc. His seven treys tie for seventh all-time in a single game in program history.
- Four other Eagles finished in double figures, including junior Elijah Stephens, who shot 5-6 from the field in a 13-point performance, and senior Matt Rogers, who finished with 11 points shooting 5-of-7 from the field.
- Stephens also led the team with eight assists, just one shy of his career-high nine at Georgetown last week.
- Senior Lorenzo Donadio and freshman Matt Mayock joined Sprouse, Stephens, and Rogers as the other two Eagles finishing with double-figure point totals, as Mayock hit four treys on his way to 14 points, and Donadio finished with 10.
- Donadio and Mayock grabbed seven rebounds each to lead American.
- Freshmen forward Gibraltar Coleman and sophomore forward Noah Jones both registered their first made field goals in an AU uniform.
- American set a program record with 19 made three-point field goals. The previous record was 15 set in 2005.
- The Eagle's 103 points mark the first time the program has eclipsed the 100-point mark since 1996. It was the most points scored by the Eagles since a 123-62 victory over Marymount on Dec. 9, 1995.
First Half
- The game turned into a three-point shootout right out of the gate with American hitting six of its first seven from distance, and Hood keeping pace with five threes of its own in the first seven minutes of action.
- Sprouse led the charge for American offensively in the early going, hitting each of his first four shots, all from behind the arc.
- The Eagles went on a brief run to pull out to a six-point lead, their largest of the half, 10 minutes into the game.
- After a hot start, American cooled off offensively, allowing Hood to erase the deficit and take the lead with a seven-point run of its own.
- Hood held onto a slim lead the rest of the half, leading by as many as four and eventually taking a two-point, 42-40 lead into halftime.
Second Half
- Rogers, who had missed much of the first half after getting called for two fouls, made back-to-back layups to regain the lead for American less than a minute into the second half.
- With a three on the next possession by Mayock, the Eagles made it a quick 7-0 run and gained a five-point lead.
- Punctuated by a Lincoln Ball dunk and Stephens three-pointer, the Eagles expanded upon their lead with a 14-0 run midway through the half to push their lead to 20 at the 10-minute mark.
- The Eagles also played noticeably better defensively in the second half, holding Hood College to just 35.5 percent shooting in the frame after the Blazers shot over 50 percent in the first 20 minutes.
- American continued to build its lead to as many as 34 before ultimately winning the game 103-74.
Next Up
- The Eagles will head to Boston to face Harvard at 7 p.m. this Wednesday, November 29.
- AU will return home the following game to take on St. Francis at 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 2.
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