Great play from Tony Wroblicky and John Schoof led AU past Colgate 70-55 Feb. 9 for its first win streak in 89 days.
The game had seven ties and 16 lead changes in the first 27 minutes.
Then Wroblicky made the play of the game. With the game tied at 36 with 13:13 left on the clock, Wroblicky leaped across the floor to block a Colgate (9-16, 3-5, PL) layup. The Eagles (9-14, 4-4, PL) never looked back.
“Blocking the shot definitely got the crowd in the game,” Wroblicky said. "Maybe subconsciously it kind of intimidated them a little bit,” he said with a big smile.
Not only did the crowd erupt after the block, so did the Eagles. Immediately after Wroblicky’s tremendous play, AU started a 16-2 runx ballooning its lead to 52-38. The play infused both Bender Arena and the Eagles with energy that Wroblicky was playing with the whole game.
“I thought that Tony was really the one guy from the start that had energy,” Head Coach Jeff Jones said. “Couple of the other guys seemed like they were running in mud.”
Another large part for the Eagles’ big run was John Schoof. The sophomore scored half of AU’s 16 points during the run and 24 points overall.
“When a kid is a good shooter to begin with and puts in as much hard work as John does,” Jones said. “Other people are in bed, or other people are doing other things, John Schoof in this gym getting up shots.”
That hard work is paying dividends. In his last two games, Schoof is 8 for 12 on 3-pointers. This season the sharpshooting sophomore is shooting an outstanding 50.9 percent on 3-point shots. His deadly accuracy has put him in the top-10 in 3-point shooting percentage in the nation.
Looking Ahead
The Eagles will need performances like Schoof’s and Wroblicky’s if their first win streak in almost three months is going to continue. AU travels to Patriot League leader Lehigh on Feb. 13 (16-5, 6-1, PL). In the first matchup, the Eagles lost 63-57. The Eagles have played their best basketball for the Patriot League’s best, and AU will enter the Lehigh game having won three of its last five games.
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