WASHINGTON – In front of a raucous crowd for the Eagles' annual Elementary School Day, American University men's basketball downed the visiting Army Black Knights by a convincing score of 79-60 in a game that saw senior Matt Rogers' record his 1,000th point for the Eagles.
 
Notable Numbers

• Senior Matt Rogers became the 34th player in program history to record at least 1,000 points in an Eagles uniform. With his six points on the day, the forward's career total now sits at 1,001.
• Senior Colin Smalls led American with 16 points, shooting an impressive 6-7 and 4-4 from behind the arc, matching his season high that he set against Villanova in November.
• Four other Eagles reached double-figures on the night. Sophomore center Jermaine Ballisager Webb and senior guard Lorenzo Donadio put up 15 and 13 points respectively, while junior Elijah Stephens and sophomore Geoff Sprouse were not far behind with 10 points each.
• Ballisager Webb also led the Eagles with nine rebounds, while Stephens led the Eagles with eight assists.
• While American shot the ball well from deep, going 8-18 in the contest, it was its inside game that set it apart from Army, with the Eagles outscoring the Black Knights 40-18 in the paint.

First Half

• After Army scored the first points of the game from three, American went on a 9-2 run and took a 9-5 lead with a three-pointer from Smalls five minutes into the half.
• The Eagles' early lead didn't last for long, however, when Army responded with two more quick threes on consecutive possessions to retake the lead. Army went on to build a seven-point lead with nine minutes left in the first half, leading 23-15.
• American quickly came storming back, responding with an 8-0 run punctuated by a Ballisager Webb layup and-one to tie the game at 23 apiece.
• After the Eagles' run was interrupted by an Army three, the team continued their onslaught with ten more unanswered points to jump out to a 33-26 lead on a Matt Rogers layup with 4:30 left in the half.
• With Rogers' layup, the senior surpassed 1,000 points in an Eagles uniform.
• Over the last four minutes of the half, the Eagles continued to push. Colin Smalls recorded another three to bring his total to 13 for the half on a perfect 5-5 shooting, and a buzzer-beater three from senior guard Lorenzo Donadio pushed American to a 15 point, 45-30 lead at the intermission.

Second Half

• The teams went back-and-forth to start the second half, with Army narrowly trimming American's lead to 13 with 15:39 remaining. Smalls also improved to 4-4 from behind-the-arc to record his 16th point of the night.
• American's lead remained steady over the next seven minutes of play, with the team leading by as many as 19 and holding a 63-46 lead with 7:30 left in the game.
• Determined play to get inside led to a layup and-one from freshman Matt Mayock and an emphatic dunk by Ballisager Webb with Army in a last-ditch full-court press to extend the Eagles' lead to 20, leading 73-53 with 4:02 left to play.
• The Eagles stayed strong over the final four minutes to go on to win 79-60.

UP NEXT

• The Eagles will continue their Patriot League slate on the road against Loyola in Baltimore at 7 p.m. on Monday, January 15th before traveling to Bethlehem to take on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks at 5 p.m. on Saturday, January 20th.
• American's next home game will take place the following Wednesday on January 24th when the Eagles face Holy Cross at 7 p.m. in Bender Arena.
• Tickets are on sale now at AUEagles.com/Tickets!

 
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