WASHINGTON – As time expired, graduate student
Lincoln Ball hit the
shot of his career to lift American University men's basketball to a 68-67 win over visiting Lehigh (6-12, 1-6) on Wednesday night in Bender Arena. The Eagles (11-9, 5-2) trailed for most of the second half after leading for most of the first, and were down by seven points with 28 seconds to go.
Notable Numbers
- Freshman Eric Michaels posted his first career game in double digits with 13 points for the Eagles, hitting an impressive 6-of-8 from the floor.
- Leading AU in scoring was sophomore Greg Jones for a second-straight game, as he hit 4-of-5 from the field including 2-of-2 from long range, while also making 4-of-4 free throws to total 14 points.
- Grad student Matt Rogers made 7-of-8 foul shots on his way to 12 points, and led AU with five rebounds.
- Sophomore Matt Mayock found his groove late in the game and hit two clutch three-pointers to bring the Eagles into striking range. Mayock had eight points on the day along with four assists.
- Senior Elijah Stephens had a tough day in scoring, but posted a game-high five assists along with four rebounds and two steals.
- The Eagles shot 45 percent (21-of-46) from the field, completing 35 percent (7-of-20) their three-point attempts.
- Two Mountain Hawks made up the bulk of Lehigh's scoring, with Tyler Whitney-Sidney and Nasir Whitlock scoring 19 point apiece.
First Half
- The Eagles pushed the pace early, with Rogers and Michaels scoring inside for a 12-4 lead at 14:14 of the half.
- Micheals gave American its first 10-point lead, 16-6 just past the 11-minute mark.
- AU forced six turnovers by the Mountain Hawks, before the Eagles committed their first miscue.
- Freshman Julen Iturbe drained a three-pointer from the corner to put American up by double digits again, 23-13 at 7:31.
- Lehigh gained momentum and used a 14-0 run to take its first lead, 29-27 with 2:44 to go.
- After a 29-29 tie with a minute and a half left, the Eagles hit 3-of-4 at the free-throw line to take a 32-29 lead into the break.
Second Half
- The Eagles twice got their lead back to six early in the second half, but the Mountain Hawks soon caught fire from long range and hit 6-of-9 in the half.
- Lehigh's third trey of the period put them up 45-40 at 12:18, but AU kept pace and stayed within three or fewer points for a five-minute stretch.
- After the game's fifth and final tie at 50-50, Lehigh's Joshua Ingram hit a three-pointer at 8:08 as part of a 5-0 run that put Lehigh on top until Ball's buzzer-beating shot.
- American had a scoring drought of two and a half minutes, while the Mountain Hawks surged to their largest lead of seven (61-54) with 2:46 remaining.
- Mayock's first of two big three-pointers gave AU life at the 2-minute mark, but Lehigh then went back up by seven, 66-59 on a 5-0 run capped by a pair of free throws at 32 seconds.
- Only one more point was scored by Lehigh after those free throws, as the Mountain Hawks went just 1-for-4 at the line in the remaining time.
- Meanwhile, Jones hit 4-of-4 and Mayock made it a one-point game with 10 seconds left when he hit his second three-pointer.
- Aggressive defense on Lehigh's inbounds pass paid off, as Ball came up with the steal in a jump-ball situation that favored AU and gave the Eagles the ball back with six seconds left.
- The drawn play didn't go as planned with Rogers nearly losing the ball out of bounds, but he found Ball open just outside the paint, and Ball found the bottom of the net with his floating jumper as time expired..
Up Next
- The Eagles will face league-leading Colgate at home on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 4 p.m. for Alumni Day and the AU Athletics Game of the Week. Click HERE to purchase tickets!
Keep Up With Us
