American University

PHILADELPHIA - Sophomore Madden Collins capped a nearly perfect shooting night in spectacular fashion, hitting a jumper at the buzzer to lift American University men's basketball to a thrilling 66-64 victory over Drexel on Wednesday night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Collins finished with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-10 shooting as the Eagles earned their first win of the season.

Notable 

• Collins has scored 20 or more points in all three games this season, including back-to-back 23-point performances at Clemson and Drexel. He added four rebounds, two assists and a steal in the victory.
• Junior Eric Michaels finished with nine points, six rebounds, two assists and a block.
• Junior Julen Iturbe added eight points and six rebounds, while senior Greg Jones and sophomore Dean Hogans chipped in seven points apiece.
• Sophomore Chris Eagan provided a spark off the bench with six points on 3-of-4 shooting, all in the second half.
• American shot a season-best 55.8 percent from the field, including 60 percent in the second half, and outrebounded the Dragons 29-20.
• The game featured eight ties and eight lead changes, all in the second half.

• AU came out firing, scoring the first six points of the game and building a 14-4 lead less than six minutes in behind back-to-back three-pointers from senior Matt Mayock and Iturbe.
• Collins accounted for eight of the Eagles' first 16 points before an 8-0 run by Drexel cut American's lead to two with just under eight minutes remaining.
• Collins and Hogans responded with consecutive triples to push the advantage back to eight, 22-14.
• The Dragons continued to chip away, pulling within a point on a three-pointer from Latief Lorenzano-White with 51 seconds left in the half.
• The Eagles never trailed in the opening period and took a 31-30 lead into the break behind 15 points from Collins on 6-of-7 shooting.

• Drexel took its first lead of the night on a three-pointer 40 seconds into the second half, and it was back-and-forth battle the rest of the way.
• Iturbe scored five straight points, and Eagan followed with a pair of buckets before the Dragons used a 7-0 run to take a 49-44 lead with 11:27 remaining.
• Trailing 51-46 with just over 10 minutes to play, the Eagles worked their way back, eventually regaining the lead on a steal and fast-break layup from Hogans with 6:38 remaining.
• Collins sank a pair of free throws following a flagrant foul with 4:39 to go, then found Michaels for a layup on the ensuing possession to give the Eagles a 58-55 advantage.
• The teams traded buckets down the stretch, with Collins tying the game at 61-61 on a turnaround jumper with 2:16 remaining, and Jones knotting the score at 63-all with a pair of free throws at the 1:04 mark.
• Michaels hit the second of two free throws with 43 seconds remaining to tie the game once more at 64-64.
• After a missed Drexel three-pointer, Mayock secured the defensive rebound and the Eagles called timeout with 22 seconds on the clock, setting up the dramatic finish.
• Collins delivered, getting off a pull-up jumper that bounced off the back of the rim and dropped through as time expired.

• The Eagles will host Harvard in their home opener at Bender Arena on Sunday, Nov. 15 at 1 p.m.

• 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).