BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico – Up by as many as 20 points midway through the second half, the American University men's basketball team was forced to grind out a win that came from the free throw line, 81-77, over the Great Danes of UAlbany on Sunday afternoon. The win was the Eagles' third in as many days, seeing them sweep all three contests in Puerto Rico.
Notable Numbers
- Colin Smalls led all players on the floor with 22 points. He went 8-for-11 overall and 5-for-7 from three. The graduate student also had a rebound and a steal.
- Point guard Elijah Stephens finished with a 20-point game. The senior went 7-for-10 from the field and 6-for-9 from the charity stripe. Stuffing his stat line, he also had five rebounds, six assists, and a steal.
- Another Eagle who found success from distance, and overall, was Matt Mayock. He made three of his four attempts from distance and sank six shots overall for a total of 17 points whille adding three assists.
- Senior forward Matt Rogers was the fourth of four Eagles to reach double digits in scoring with 10 points. When the buzzer sounded he had four rebounds, an assist, a steal, and a block to round out his line on the stat sheet.
- Three Eagles finished with four fouls, Stephens, Rogers, and Eric Michaels, and another Eagle, Greg Jones ended up fouling out with five. One Great Dane fouled out and another finished with four. AU finished with 25 personal fouls and UAlbany accrued 21.
- American shot 64 percent from the field and 56 percent from three for the game, while UAlbany shot 45 percent overall and 31 percent from deep.
First Half
- Back-to-back triples to open play from Smalls and Jones had the Eagles up a quick 6-2 before a full minute had even been played. American found itself leading 8-2 at 17:53.
- The run continued for AU. On the defensive end the Eagles had two blocks and three rebounds and were leading 15-6 at the 14:11 mark, Smalls having made another triple and Michaels getting both blocks. Five Eagles had scored within five minutes.
- UAlbany battled to get back into it, but at the under-12 media timeout, American led 19-11, shooting 8-for-12, three of which were triples, while the Great Danes were 5-for-12 and nothing from long-range.
- The Great Danes found a way to battle back into it, improving on the glass to match American at nine rebounds each, and taking more shots (11-for-25) to compensate for American shooting 65 percent from the floor overall.
- At the half, American was 4-for-7 from three and UAlbany was 0-for-3, which aided in the Eagles having a nine point, 39-30, lead at the midway point. The teams were even on the glass still, 10 apiece, but AU was shooting 68 percent overall to UAlbany's 48 percent.
- Smalls and Stephens led all players on the floor at the break with 11 and eight points, respectively. Six of Smalls' points came from deep with two three-point buckets to his stat line.
Second Half
- Thirty seconds into the second half, Jones, with three points, two rebounds, and an assist, was called for his fourth foul.
- American gained a 13-point advantage at the 16:20 mark with a driving layup from Stephens, but after an unfortunate run of eight fouls in five minutes by AU, the Great Danes reduced the deficit to eight with a handful of free throws. American still led 49-41 at the 14:50 mark.
- Smalls must have taken that personally, because the graduate student made a layup and two three-pointers, scoring eight consecutive points in a minute. American was back up, 57-44, with 12:15 to play.
- Mayock decided he wanted in on the action. After scoring six points in the first half, the sophomore took AU on his own 8-2 run in the second half with two triples in a row and a layup, giving the Eagles a 20-point lead, 67-47. The Eagles were 9-for-15 from the floor, dominating from range while the Great Danes were 1-for-7.
- The Great Danes weren't going away quietly though, manufacturing their own 19-6 run as a response, trailing by six, 73-67. After a buzzer-beating victory over Kansas City the day before, UAlbany is no stranger to comebacks.
- UAlbany continued to outscore the Eagles, 7-3 over the next two and a half minutes. This meant the Eagles were only leading by two, 76-73, with 31 seconds left to play.
- It would come down to free throw makes and misses. Rogers dropped two with 26 seconds to go that were immediately canceled out on the other end with a pair of free throws for the Great Danes.
- Rogers would end up putting the final touches on the game with his two made free throws with 0.5 seconds left, claiming the victory, 81-77.
Up Next
- The Eagles are coming home to Bender from their island trip to take on Notre Dame of Maryland on Sunday, Dec. 1.
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