WASHINGTON – Fueled by a 15-2 go-ahead run in the second half, American University men's basketball edged Army West Point, 71-68, to extend its win streak to seven.
Matt Rogers led AU with his third straight 20-point performance, and the Eagles (14-9, 8-2) now hold a two-game lead atop the Patriot League standings.
Notable Numbers
- Rogers scored a game-high 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, hitting an impressive 4-of-6 three-pointers to tie his career high. Rogers and Lincoln Ball led AU with eight rebounds each.
- Elijah Stephens scored 14 points and dished four assists, while Colin Smalls added 11 points to round out three players who reached double figures in scoring for the Eagles.
- AU won despite an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers, and hit just 10-of-16 free throws (62.5 percent), well below its previous average of 76.8.
- The Eagles did pull down 38 rebounds to Army's 28, and finished with a 17-11 edge in second-chance points.
First Half
- The Eagles only briefly trailed in the first half, taking a 19-9 lead with a 12-0 run and staying ahead of Army from there.
- Both teams struggled early on offense, with Army starting 2-for-11 and the Eagles at 3-for-13.
- After a 7-7 tie at 12:52, the Black Knights went up 9-7 before a Stephens trey started the go-ahead run.
- Jones followed a three-point play with a steal and a layup for a 15-9 lead, with Stephens and Rogers adding buckets to complete the three-minute run.
- Army responded with an 8-2 run to pull within four, and kept it within two possessions the rest of the way.
- Rogers hit his first triple in the final minute for a six-point lead, but Army got one more to go and cut the Eagles' lead to four at the break, 31-27.
- Shooting improved on both sides by the end of the half, with AU finishing at nearly 45 percent and Army hitting 35.7 percent from the field.
Second Half
- The triples fell early and often for AU in the second half, as the Eagles made five of their first eight attempts from long range.
- Rogers, Wyatt Nausadis, and Matt Mayock all hit triples in a 15-2 run that put AU up by 17 points, 54-37 at 11:39.
- Army turned right around with a 14-2 run that made it a five-point game with 7:46 remaining.
- AU pushed it back to a double-digit lead on a banked three-pointer by Rogers at 6:12, and the Eagles matched that 10-point lead one more time before the Black Knights pulled closer down the stretch.
- With a 6-0 run in the final minute, Army made it a one-point game on a pair of free throws with eight seconds left.
- After some trouble for AU on free-throw attempts in the final minutes, Mayock came up huge and hit 2-of-2 with six seconds on the clock to widen the gap to three.
- The Eagles' defense forced a long three-point attempt by the Black Knights' Ryan Curry in the final seconds, but it missed the mark.
Up Next
- The Eagles play road games at Bucknell (Feb. 5) and Lehigh (Feb. 8) before returning to Bender against Lafayette on Monday, Feb. 10 on CBS Sports Network at 6 p.m. For tickets, click HERE.
Keep Up With Us
