BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico – The Eagles hit 93 percent from the free throw line, sinking 25 of 27, to claim the first win away from home for American University men's basketball on Friday night when the squad downed Kansas City, 64-60, in the first game of the Puerto Rico El Clasico.
Notable Numbers
- Sophomore Greg Jones topped all players on the court with his career-high 16-point performance. He also had three steals, a rebound, and an assist. He went 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
- Senior point guard Elijah Stephens went 10-for-11 from the free throw line and dropped 14 points toward the squad's efforts. Stephens is the first to hit 10 free throws in almost six years, since Sa'eed Nelson hit 12 against Navy on Jan. 9, 2019. He also pulled down a career-high six rebounds.
- Colin Smalls, a graduate student guard, was the third Eagle in double-digits for the evening with 13 points. He went 7-for-7 from the charity stripe and had an assist and a steal.
- Matt Rogers led all players on the floor on the glass with seven boards on the evening.
- AU shot 92.6 percent from the free throw line, making 25 of 27 attempts, while the Roos went 16-for-19 for 82 percent.
First Half
- The Eagles jumped out to a lead early, up 15-6 at the time of the first media timeout, with 13:50 to go. At that point in the game, AU was 6-for-8 from the floor while Kansas City was 3-10.
- On their next four possessions, the Roos went 4-for-4 from beyond the arc to tie it all up at 15 before taking an 18-15 lead at the 11:41 mark.
- After that, it was relatively even, but with KC maintaining their lead, up 26-20 with under eight to play in the opening half.
- The Eagles were down two at the half. The Roos, leading 29-27, were up to shooting 40 percent from the field and 55 percent from beyond the arc, going 6-for-11 from deep.
- American was 10-for-26 overall from the floor, but was struggling from distance, shooting just 2-for-12 from long-range.
- At that point, Jones and Smalls topped the offensive efforts with six points each, and Rogers was leading all players on the floor with five rebounds.
Second Half
- Two free throws from Stephens and a triple from Jones had the Eagles down one, 33-32, at the 13:35 mark. Jones' long range jumper was one of just three from American on the night.
- With a free throw from Eric Michaels at 16:12, the Eagles tied it up 33-all. While the Roos were 4-for-4 from the charity stripe and had yet to score from the floor, AU was 3-for-4 and had drained a triple to level it all out.
- At the under eight media timeout, the Eagles had a six-point lead on the backs of both Jones and Smalls. Immediately coming out of the break, the lead was eight thanks to two made free throws from Jones.
- Over the next six minutes, the Roos went on a 16-8 run with the aid of two triples to tie up the game at 56-all with one minute to play.
- Jones was fouled making a layup, and converted for the extra point to put the Eagles back on top before Stephens added three more free throws to put the Eagles up 62-57. A made triple on the other end made it a two-point game with 23 seconds to go.
- It was Matt Mayock's two made free throws with 20 seconds left that made it a four-point game, giving AU the 64-60 victory for the first win away from home this season.
Up Next
- The Eagles will play their remaining two games in the Puerto Rico Clasico, taking on Puerto Rico at Bayamon and UAlbany on Nov. 23 and 24.
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