The AU men’s basketball maintained their No. 1 spot in the Patriot League with a strong offensive performance on Jan. 25 with an 84-74 victory over the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.
The win also pushes the Eagles conference winning streak to eight straight and nine overall.
Even though the Black Knights (10-9, 6-2 PL) entered the game with the top scoring offense, the Eagles (12-7, 7-0 PL) proved superior, shooting 52.9 percent from the field and scoring more than 80 points for the second straight game.
Junior guard John Schoof led the Eagles’ scoring attack with 22 points, joined by sophomore guard Jesse Reed who scored 20 points, matching his total from the Eagle victory over BU on Wednesday. Senior center Tony Wroblicky and junior guard Darrius Gardner rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Eagles with 19 and 11 points, respectively.
Despite the scoring, the Eagles found themselves down 6-0 just four minutes into the first half. Schoof broke the AU scoring drought with a three pointer to cut the Army lead in half and kick start the Eagle offense, which took a 17-15 lead with 10:11 left in the half.
The Black Knights continued to battle, keeping the game close and even taking a 23-22 lead thanks to free throws from Kyle Wilson.
However, AU quickly regained the lead, which it would not relinquish for the rest of the game and carry a 32-30 lead into the half.
The Eagles spent most of the second half maintaining this lead. Even though the Army offense was potent by scoring 44 second half points, it was not enough as AU maintained a multiple possession lead throughout most of the half en route to the 10-point win.
A key to the second half was the Eagle free throw shooting which went 14-of-16 in the second half as Army attempted to slow down the AU scoring late in the game.
Overall AU and Army were evenly matched in terms rebounding, with AU holding a 34-31 advantage. However Army was the beneficiary of 23 second chance points and 20 bench points. Army also received 11 points off of AU turnovers.
AU will return home Jan. 29 for a two game home-stand, starting with a matchup against the U.S. Naval Academy
esaltzman@theeagleonline.com
