AU Men's Basketball Overcomes Halftime Deficit, Defeats Howard on the Road 65-63

Nov. 19, 2008

Box Score
Washington Post Recap

WASHINGTON - The American University men's basketball team fought back from a 37-30 halftime deficit on Wednesday to defeat Howard, 65-63, on the road at Burr Gymnasium. The Eagles found themselves in foul trouble early but got back on track behind the hot shooting of Garrison Carr who scored 29 points.

"There weren't any changes that were made in the second half, it was just those guys deciding they were going to compete," Head Coach Jeff Jones said. "We are thrilled to get the victory but I think we recognize that we were fortunate and we need to get better and play a lot harder in order to be a quality team."

American (2-1) scored the first bucket of the night on a Frane Markusovic layup and after a Carr three the Eagles looked to be rolling. Early fouls however put the Bison in the bonus with 16:31 to play and slowed AU's momentum. Trailing 16-13 after a Carr lay-in with 13:28 in the half, the Eagles struggled through a three-plus minute drought as the Bison went an 8-0 run to improve their lead to 24-13.

Carr hit a three at 10:51 to end Howard's run but the Bison answered back with a Curtis White layup two possessions later to retake a 10 point advantage, 26-16. On Howard's next possession, Mercer blocked an attempted jumper by Chris McHenry to start a fast break which resulted in a Nick Hendra three to cut the lead to seven, 26-19. With 2:55 remaining in the frame, AU found itself trailing by 12 before Carr brought the score to within nine, 37-28, on his third trey of the frame. Carr then brought the Eagles to within seven, 37-30, on a layup off a McHenry turnover before the teams headed into the locker room for the half.

Coming out of the break the Eagles quickly cut Howard's lead to two, 37-35, on a Jordan Nichols layup and a three by Carr just over two minutes in. McHenry answered Carr's basket with a layup to retake a four point lead but Brian Gilmore followed that bucket up with a three of his own to bring the score to within one, 39-38. On American's next possession, Carr pulled up again for three and connected to tie the score at 41 with 16:39 remaining. After a Gilmore jumper in the paint retied the game at 43, AU took its first lead since early in the first half as Carr continued to light up the scoreboard with his sixth three of the night with 12:42 to go.

With the score tied at 46, Stephen Lumpkins pulled down an offensive rebound off a Carr miss and got the put-back to give AU a two-point advantage, 48-46. Lumpkins came up big again on the Bison's next possession as he picked the pocket of White and Hendra put AU up by four, 50-46, on a layup off the turnover.

The Eagles held on to a two-point lead with just under eight to play before going on a 10-2 run to take a 10 point lead, 62-52. Frank Borden assisted on a Carr jumper to begin the run and two possessions later Mercer pushed American's advantage to seven as he was fouled hard on a layup and made the and-one. Lumpkins capped off American's run with an emphatic two handed dunk off a feed from Mercer.

AU led by seven with 0:42 to play after Mercer hit the front end of a one-and-one but a quick McHenry three at the other end of the court cut American's lead to four, 65-61. Howard quickly fouled Gilmore off the inbounds, sending him to the line, but he was unable connect on the front end of the one-and-one, giving the ball back to Howard. After an AU foul, Eugene Myatt hit two free throws to bring the score to within two, 65-63, and on the ensuing inbounds Howard sent Carr to the line. Despite a terrific shooting night from the field, Carr missed the front end of the one-and-one giving Howard one last chance. Myatt put up a three as time expired after a loose ball scramble but it clanked off the back of the rim, preserving AU's victory, 65-63.

Carr poured in 29 points for the Eagles on 11-of-19 shooting to lead all scorers. The senior was 7-of-13 from behind the arc and hit 4-of-7 from three in the second half. Lumpkins added eight points for AU off the bench and recorded three rebounds and one steal. Mercer dished out a season-high eight assists while tallying six points and Hendra added seven.

American will continue its four-game road trip this Saturday, Nov. 22, as the team travels to Jacksonville for a 7 p.m. tip.