Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. But the Eagles would rather not make a habit of it.
A last-second fade-away jumper from sophomore guard Andre Ingram gave the AU Men's Basketball team a fortunate 76-74 win over Lafayette Saturday, and served as the fitting end to a wild affair at Bender Arena.
"We used up a considerable portion of our good fortune for the season," according to Head Coach Jeff Jones. "In the meat of the game we did quite a few good things. But we desperately need to learn how to finish teams off."
Lafayette's Paul Cummins tied the game at 74 with 13.7 seconds left, hitting an acrobatic layup while getting fouled, after AU senior forward Jason Thomas fumbled away possession in AU's backcourt. Cummins' bucket secured the first tie since early in the first half.
But Cummins missed the foul shot, and AU rebounded and found Ingram, the Eagles' leading scorer and go-to guy. Ingram drove to the right, got the ball stripped, recovered it, and heaved an 18-footer that dropped with 0.4 seconds remaining, sending the 1,476 fans in attendance into delirium. Ingram led all scorers with 20 points and took charge down the stretch, scoring six of AU's final eight points.
While Ingram also hit a buzzer-beater to send AU's game at Virginia Commonwealth to overtime on Nov. 15 (AU would lose 82-76), Saturday marked Ingram's biggest shot in his young AU career.
"Once I lost the ball, all I saw was the ball," Ingram recounted. "I just focused on getting it back and getting a shot up. When I let it go, I thought it was way long. But it went in."
Jones would have called timeout had Cummins made the free throw, but on a miss he fancied his chances with his team improvising the last play, he said.
"We wanted to make sure we got the last shot," Jones said. "We didn't want to call a timeout. While calling a timeout would allow us to get organized, it would also let them get regrouped."
With the win, the Eagles (9-6, 2-1 in the Patriot League) avoided losing their third straight home game before undertaking an arduous PL road trip to Army and then Holy Cross this weekend. It also capped a week where three times the Eagles built large leads only to hang on for close victories. The first two wins came over Yale (69-55) and Navy (66-60).
On Saturday, AU led for most of the game, building a margin as large as 12 points in the second half, and still held a 72-65 advantage when Lafayette called a timeout with 46 seconds to play.
But in a manner startlingly similar to the two teams' clash at Bender last year, which Lafayette won in overtime, 86-83, the Leopards hung in the game on the coattails of poor AU foul shooting and several AU mental lapses.
Lafayette (5-10, 1-2 PL) also got big games from Sean Knitter, who scored 17 points and gave AU's defense fits with his bulky frame and accurate perimeter shooting, and from pesky guard Marcus Harley, who added 13 points, including three short jumpers in the final four minutes.
Knitter could have been more of a factor if not for concerns about his fitness.
"He's had back trouble all year," said Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon. "He's missed practices, and we're more concerned with his conditioning. Sometimes, coming off the bench allows him to get more meaningful minutes."
AU could only blame itself for the late-game anxiety.
Thomas, who committed AU's last turnover, also missed a layup with a minute left. Senior guard Patrick Okpwae, whom Jones omitted from the starting lineup for the first time this season, encountered foul trouble, and proved a defensive liability inside late before fouling out in the final minute. And sophomore guard Linas Lekavicius struggled mightily at the line, missing three free throws in the final three minutes.
Thomas and Lekavicius played well until the final minutes, scoring 15 and 14 points, respectively, Senior forward Matej Cresnik was the fourth cog in AU's wheel with 13.
Thomas and Ingram tied for the rebounding lead with eight, while Cresnik added seven. Lekavicius had four steals.
Lafayette led briefly in the first half, before an Ingram three-pointer put AU up 8-7, a lead AU would hoard until the final seconds. The Eagles led 42-35 at the half.
The Eagles journey to the Northeast this weekend, first playing Army on Friday at 7 p.m. before meeting the Holy Cross Crusaders on Sunday at 3 p.m.
