Faced with a 62-all tie with nine minutes remaining in yesterday's Phil Bender game against Lafayette College, seniors forward Brian Gilmore and Garrison Carr combined to score 10 of the team's final 16 points as the Eagles pulled away for a 78-65 victory. The win improves AU's record to 5-1 in the Patriot League and 13-7 overall.
After struggling entering the second half of play, the Eagles went on a 16-3 run over the final nine minutes of play. The offensive surge was started on two key free-throws by sophomore guard Nick Hendra to give the Eagles the lead at 64-62 before Carr's three-pointer at 4:28 put the Eagles up by eight, on their way to the eventual 13 point victory.
Senior guard Derrick Mercer said the key to this run was to return to the way they had played in the first half of the game, when AU started off the game on a 21-9 run to open the match.
"We needed to start doing things that got us the big lead in the first half," Mercer said. "The second half was about making more effort plays."
The first half of play that Mercer was referring to was a tale of two runs, first with the Eagles taking a commanding 21-9 at the 11:11 mark of the first half before Lafayette came roaring back, closing out the period on a 17-4 run to take a four point lead, 43-39, entering halftime.
"The big thing for us [during the Lafayette run] was losing Mercer with his second foul," AU Head Coach Jeff Jones said. "I was very disappointed with our play."
Instead of allowing the deficit to continue to open the second half, the Eagles quickly rallied, coming out of the locker room on a 6-2 run to retake the lead on a layup by bucket by Mercer to give AU a slim 47-45 lead.
Although the two teams would trade baskets back and forth over the next 10 minutes, they would never relinquish the lead for the rest of the game, keeping the lead small until their run to finish out the victory.
Gilmore finished with a game-high 22 points while Carr added 18 points of his own, including four three-pointers. Teammate senior forward Jordan Nichols also scored in double digits with 11 on the day.
While the team was happy with the victory, there was still plenty they could work on in practice, Mercer said.
"We still have a lot of work to do," he said. "We are a pretty good team but we have a lot to do. We are just taking it step by step, day by day."
The Eagles now look to build on their two-game winning-streak when they host the U.S. Military Academy at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
You can reach this staff writer at jhall@theeagleonline.com.
