WASHINGTON - Control from start to finish carried American University men's basketball to a 76-67 road win at Holy Cross, marking the Eagles' fourth straight victory and giving them redemption after a home loss to the Crusaders two weeks ago. Freshman Madden Collins led AU with 20 points, while sophomore Julen Iturbe added 15 points and a game-high eight rebounds as American sealed it at the line, going 7-for-8 in the final minute to hold off a late Crusaders push.

Notable 

• Collins hit 8-of-13 from the field and added five rebounds to his game-high 20 points, reaching 20 for a fourth time this season.
• Junior Greg Jones was AU's third player to reach double digits in scoring, finishing with 14.
• The Eagles posted eight steals, getting four of them from junior Matt Mayock who tied his career high in that category along with scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.
• AU tied for its second-fewest turnovers in a game this season with seven, while forcing 14 on Holy Cross.

First Half 

• Two early steals for Mayock led to a hot start for the Eagles, but the Crusaders rallied and made it a back-and-forth game through the first six minutes.
• Down 13-11, back-to-back triples for Collins and Sebastian started what became a 14-0 run that put AU in the lead for good.
• Iturbe, Mayock, and sophomore Wyatt Nausadis all scored in the run that gave the Eagles a 25-13 lead just past the halfway mark of the period.
• Holy Cross twice came within eight, but got no closer.
• Jones capped a 6-0 run for AU with a layup at 4:15 that gave the Eagles their largest lead of 14 points, 37-23.
• Senior Geoff Sprouse drained a triple just before halftime to match that advantage going into the break at 41-27.
• The Eagles forced 12 first-half turnovers while committing just four, leading to a 14-6 edge in points off turnovers.
• AU also out-rebounded Holy Cross 18-13 and scored a 6-0 advantage in second-chance points.
• Collins led all players at the break with eight points, while Jones had seven. Iturbe and freshman Chris Eagan each scored six in the half, with Iturbe leading all players on the glass with five boards.

Second Half 

• The Crusaders started the half with a 13-6 run that brought them to within seven points after five minutes.
• With a backdoor pass from Nausadis, Collins made a layup that was followed by an Iturbe triple to put AU back up by its largest lead of 14, 56-42 at 11:52.
• Holy Cross never went away, surging back with another 7-0 run to come with seven once again.
• The Eagles' lead was never more than 10 in the final 10 minutes, but never fewer than five.
• Joe Nugent, who went 6-for-9 from long range for Holy Cross, hit his fifth of those with 1:10 remaining to make it a five-point game at 69-64.
• American went to the line for eight attempts in the final minute and hit seven of those to stave off the Crusaders, who got a sixth triple from Nugent with 33 seconds left.
• Collins was the final shooter for AU, and made both of his shots at the line with eight seconds left to seal the win.

Next Up

• The Eagles will play on the road again but closer to home, heading to Loyola Maryland for a 7 p.m. contest on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Keep Up With Us

• For the latest on American University Men's Basketball, stay tuned to AUEagles.com and follow the team on Instagram (@au_mbasketball), X (@AU_MBasketball), and Facebook (/AU.MBasketball).