WASHINGTON - Trailing Drexel by 13 at the break, American University men's basketball stormed through the second half to pull out a 75–73 win, cashing in at the line with an 18-for-23 performance after halftime. Freshman
Madden Collins led four double-figure scorers with 19 points, and junior
Matt Mayock added 15.
Notable Numbers
- The Eagles shot 54 percent from the field in a 48-point second half, and got 18 points at the free-throw line after going 0-for-4 at the line in the first half.
- American committed just three second-half turnovers, and a season-low six in the game.
- Mayock was 3-for-4 from long range and 5-of-9 overall.
- Junior Greg Jones and senior Geoff Sprouse scored 11 points apiece, with Jones adding eight boards and Sprouse posting three steals.
- Tying for team-high rebounding honors with Jones was sophomore Julen Iturbe with eight boards to go with eight points.
First Half
- AU looked strong early, jumping out to a 10-4 lead after a 10-2 run, but lost momentum the rest of the way.
- The Dragons came within two at 13-11, and took their first lead since 2-0 after a 6-0 run put them up 17-16 at 8:46.
- Collins had the Eagles up 20-17 with a putback, but it was AU's last lead of the half.
- Drexel tied it up 20-20 during a 9-0 run that put the Dragons up 26-20 with 5:26 remaining.
- The Eagles came within three but could get no closer as Drexel closed half on a 12-2 run for a 40-27 lead at the break.
- Collins led AU with nine first-half points, but Drexel out-shot American 58.6 percent to 32.4 percent from the field.
Second Half
- The Eagles came out strong, getting threes from Mayock and Sprouse in a 10-0 run that made it a three-point game two and a half minutes in.
- AU matched that three-point deficit once more before a 9-2 Drexel run pushed the Dragons' lead back to 10, and they led by 11 at 13:34 after a three-point play from Victor Panov.
- Panov was soon ejected for a flagrant two foul on Iturbe, leading to a quick 6-0 run for American.
- Jones hit a pair of free throws at 10:19 to bring AU within two points, 56-54, and Collins got the Eagles within one on a layup at 9:33.
- Down 60-56, Collins went 2-for-2 at the line to start a 9-0 run that was fueled by five points from Iturbe and ended with free throws from Jones that gave AU a five-point, 67-62 lead with 4:23 remaining.
- AU never trailed again and led by six on two occasions in the final minutes.
- Two clutch free throws from sophomore Wyatt Nausadis with two seconds left put the game away, and a buzzer-beating three from Drexel's Shane Blakeney only narrowed the final margin.
Next Up
- The Eagles have one game remaining in their six-game homestand, and will host UMES on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 2 p.m.
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