WORCESTER, Mass. – Sophomore
Greg Jones scored a career-high 21 points and had plenty of help as American University men's basketball won its third straight game and second straight on the road, 74-65 at Holy Cross. Jones went 4-of-4 from long range in the second half to keep the Eagles (10-9, 4-2) in the lead against the hot-shooting Crusaders (10-9, 2-4) and give AU the season sweep.
Notable Numbers
- Jones, who scored 19 of his points in the second half, hit 6-of-7 overall as well as 5-of-6 from the free-throw line in his career effort. He also tied Lincoln Ball for the team lead with seven rebounds.
- Elijah Stephens made 6-of-10 including 2-of-3 from three-point range and scored 16 points, nearly notching a double-double by tying his career-high of nine assists.
- Rounding out three players in double digits for AU was Matt Rogers with 10 points, and Colin Smalls was right there with nine.
- Freshman Eric Michaels hit 3-of-4 off the bench to add six points for AU.
- AU hit 10-for-23 from long range, going 8-for-13 in the second half.
First Half
- The first and last buckets of the half were three-pointers for the Eagles, who led for most of the period despite missing their eight other attempts from long range.
- Greg Jones made a layup at 15:43 that gave AU a 7-5 lead, and the Eagles held the advantage the rest of the way.
- AU's three-point defense did well to hold the Crusaders to just three triples in the half, as Holy Cross averages 9.4 of them a game.
- Six players each scored one bucket for AU in the first 11 minutes, and eight had scored by halftime.
- AU led by its largest margin of seven points on three occasions, the last at 21-14 on a Stephens layup at 2:47.
- Holy Cross cut it to three with a minute left, but Stephens answered by banking in AU's second triple with the shot clock expiring on the Eagles' final possession of the half.
- Jones got a steal in the final seconds to keep AU's lead at six points heading into the break, 26-20.
Second Half
- Jones started the second half with a three-pointer for AU's largest lead of nine.
- Despite Jones hitting a second triple three minutes later, and Rogers making his first, the Crusaders kept it close.
- Holy Cross had a stretch of making 4-for-5 that cut the margin to four, 35-31 at 15:16.
- The back-and-forth action continued, with AU going up by six and Holy Cross cutting it back to as few as two points, 37-35.
- From there, the Eagles caught fire with a 7-0 run that turned into a 12-2 run, going ahead by 12 near the 11-minute mark.
- Rogers' second three-pointer of the game gave AU its first double-digit lead at 11:33 before a pair of free throws for Matt Mayock made it 49-37.
- The 12-point lead was AU's largest, as Max Green heated up for the Crusaders.
- Jones incredibly hit 4-of-4 from long range, but Green usually had an answer.
- Holy Cross came within six on three occasions down the stretch, the last at 66-60 with 2:16 remaining.
- Rogers gave AU some cushion with a layup at 1:49, and the Eagles hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 20 seconds.
Up Next
- The Eagles are back home for two straight games, starting with a 7 p.m. contest against Lehigh on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
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