BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico – Leading by 10 at the half, the Eagles of the American University men's basketball team showed their road dog mentality when they faced off with the hosts, the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón, in game two at the El Clasico. AU topped Bayamón 73-56 to improve to 2-0 at the tournament.
Notable Numbers
- Matt Rogers topped the Eagles with 16 points, shooting 50 percent from the floor. He also had three rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Rogers went 6-for-8 from the free throw line.
- Sophomore Matt Mayock came through as well. Mayock finished with 14 points, also on 50 percent shooting, and stuffed his line on the sheet with four rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block.
- Two other Eagles finished in double digit scoring, Julen Iturbe (11) and Elijah Stephens (10). Stephens also had four assists, four steals, and two rebounds to fill his stat line while Iturbe had five rebounds and two assists.
- Eric Michaels led the Eagles on the glass with 10 rebounds. The freshman also had nine points, one shy of a double double. Michaels also had two blocks to aid the defensive effort.
- Players on both teams were in foul trouble. For the Eagles, Wyatt Nausadis, Alex Daniels, and Iturbe each had four fouls at the final whistle while two of the Bayamón players had four.
First Half
- From the jump, the contest was evenly matched in terms of scoring. At 15:10 in the first half, one of the Bayamón players, Victor Carillo, had seven points on his own, but three Eagles had scored. AU was leading 8-7 at that point.
- It continued that way, with Carillo single-handedly keeping the home team in it. American led 14-11 at the under 12 media timeout, with 11:38 to go in the opening frame.
- Nausadis had picked up three fouls in the first eight minutes and would be limited on floor time from there on out in the first half.
- As a team, Daniels and Stephens worked to force a turnover before Stephens bumped the ball out to Daniels to make a three from the corner and put the Eagles up 18-13 at the halfway mark.
- Starting with Daniels' triple, the Eagles then went on an 11-2 run, leading by 11, up 26-15 at 7:43. At that point, Rogers had nine points and Jones had six.
- By the end of the frame, AU was up 36-26 and shooting 43 percent from the floor while holding Bayamón to 30 percent. PR had a slight edge on the glass with 19 rebounds to American's 16. Carillo was still the team leader for the hosts with 13 points.
Second Half
- The teams were much more even in the second half. Nausadis was able to get back on the floor and the Eagles found their stride.
- A 16-7 run to open the second half saw six points coming from Michaels and four from Iturbe and Stephens, putting momentum on AU's side. American led 52-33, up 19 points, at the end of the run.
- The hosts then went to outscore the Eagles 6-2, but American cut through any advantage gained with back-to-back threes from Maycock and Nausadis with 10 minutes to go.
- It stayed like that throughout, with American answering everything Bayamón could throw at them, with the largest lead of the game coming at the 5:09 mark, up by 21 with the scoreline reading 66-45.
- Stephens and Iturbe closed out the scoring half for American with four and three points, respectively, pushing the scoreline to 73-56 and giving American its second road win in as many days.
Up Next
- The Eagles will finish their stint in the Puerto Rico Clasico by taking on on UAlbany on Nov. 24 before heading home to take on Notre Dame of Maryland on Sunday, Dec. 1 in Bender Arena.
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