WASHINGTON – Suffering from poor shooting in the second half, the American University men's basketball team saw its season come to an end Thursday night in the Patriot League Quarterfinals as the visiting Bucknell Bison prevailed 80-57.
 
Notable Numbers

• Senior Lorenzo Donadio led American offensively with 16 points on 6-13 shooting. Fellow senior Matt Rogers also contributed 13 points in the losing effort, including 8-10 from the free throw line.
• Defensively, senior Lincoln Ball came up with a game-high 11 rebounds.
• For the Bison, Noah Williamson recorded a game-high 23 points on 8-12 shooting. Jack Forrest added 16 of his own.
• As a team, Bucknell shot 46.6 percent from the field, compared to only 34.0 percent for American. The Bison also held a 15-3 advantage in points off turnovers.

First Half

• Donadio fed off a high-energy crowd early, hitting a three on the first possession of the game. Two quick steals for Bucknell, however, sent the Bison on a 7-0 run to take a 7-3 lead a little over a minute into the game.
• The Eagles came away with points on each of their next four possessions, starting the night 5-of-6 from the field. With Bucknell starting a respectable 5-of-9 from the field itself, the teams were all knotted up at 13 with five minutes down.
• Elijah Stephens converted from distance out of the media timeout to give American a 16-13 lead. American missed its next four shots, giving its defense its first test of the game. Bucknell inched ahead to take a 21-16 lead with 11 minutes left in the first half.
• The teams continued to go back and forth, with the Eagles coming back to tie the game at 21 with a jumper and a three from Donadio, and the Bison then regaining their lead and pushing it back out to five, leading 26-21 at the 7:58 mark.
• Buoyed by two made threes, Bucknell pushed the margin to 11 with 4:18 left in the first frame and the score 36-25.
• American's deficit remained at 11 at the end of the half, with the Eagles down 40-29. American was led by Donadio's 11 points in the half with the team shooting 37% from the field. Bucknell's Noah Williamson recorded 15 points in the half and the Bison went into the break shooting 43%.

Second Half

• The momentum continued to favor Bucknell out of the break. A layup for Bucknell after American came up empty on its first two possessions prompted the Eagles to call an early timeout only 93 seconds into the half with Bucknell now leading 43-29.
• While managing to go 4-of-6 from the free throw line, American couldn't seem to buy a basket, missing its first four from the field in the half and continuing to trail 49-33 with 14:45 left to turn the game.
• Out of the media timeout, Donadio and sophomore Geoff Sprouse hit threes on back-to-back possessions to rediscover American's offensive mojo and rein in its deficit back to within 10, the score 49-39.
• American couldn't keep up the momentum, however, as Bucknell jumped out to its largest lead of the game on a three-pointer from Forrest that made the score 60-44 with 8:15 left on the clock.
• Rogers fouled out of the game with 6:49 left to play.
• American didn't have a response and saw its season end at the hands of the Bison, who prevailed 80-57.

 


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