Even on five days rest the American University Eagles were unable to cool off the Lehigh Mountain Hawks, who move to 7-1 since their loss to AU on Jan. 17. After starting the game on a 16-8 run the Eagles went cold and headed into halftime down 33-19. The deficit proved too large to overcome, leading to an AU 65-58 loss.
With this loss, American moves into a four-way tie for fourth place in the Patriot League with Loyola University (Maryland), Boston University and Lafayette College. The Eagles have a chance to move up in the standings when they take on Lafayette this weekend. Boston and Loyola will also go head-to-head on Saturday.
Senior guard John Schoof led the game in scoring with 21 points, despite heading to the bench late in the first half. Schoof collected two fouls with eight minutes left in first forcing the senior to miss the rest of the half.
The Eagles (13-12, 6-7 PL) started energized and focused going on a 10-2 run to start the game. After numerous Eagle turnovers and missed shots, the Mountain Hawks (14-10, 8-5 PL) took an 18-17 lead with 10:49 left in the first half. The Eagles would go on to only score two more points in the rest of the half which came off a dunk from senior center Kevin Panzer.
The Mountain Hawks’ shutdown defense forced the Eagles to go 7-for-25 (28 percent) from the field in the first half. AU attempted more shots than Lehigh in the first half, but the Eagles were forced into difficult and awkward shots, causing misses. The Mountain Hawks, on the other hand, finished the half 12-for-24 (50 percent).
With Schoof back on the floor, the Eagles came out firing after halftime. The senior was responsible for the team’s first 10 points of the half. In the first minute of the second half, Schoof fed sophomore guard Charlie Jones for a three-pointer and then added seven points of his own.
AU, however, could not find an answer for Lehigh sophomores, forward Tim Kempton and guard Austin Price. The duo combined for 35 points going 10-for-17 in the field and 12-for-13 on the free throw line.
In the second half, Eagles outscored the Mountain Hawks 39-32, but the 17 point deficit proved too much to overcome. The closest the Eagles would get would be 57-51 with 0:47 left in the game.
Panzer delivered another complete game finishing with 11 points, three rebounds and three assists. Jones finished the game with seven points and pulled down eight rebounds. Head coach Mike Brennan's bench totaled 21 minutes of playing time, two rebounds and zero points.
The Eagles return to home to Bender Arena Feb. 14 to face Lafayette.
