Nov 22, 2008
AU Men's Basketball Earns 75-67 Win at Jacksonville
Nov. 22, 2008
WASHINGTON - The American University men's basketball team used 11 three-point field goals and a combined 42 points from Garrison Carr and Brian Gilmore to defeat Jacksonville on Saturday, 75-67, at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial. The Eagles shot a combined 11-of-18 from behind the arc and sealed the victory with clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch.
American (3-1) came out firing first after the tipoff as Garrison Carr hit a three pointer on the Eagles first possession to start an 8-0 run. Derrick Mercer scored an easy backdoor layup off a feed from Frank Borden two possessions later and Brian Gilmore hit an open trey the next time down the court to cap off the run. A Mercer three at 11:28 gave American a 10 point lead, 13-3. Gilmore moved the Eagles advantage to 12, 18-16, two possessions later as he was fouled hard on a fast break layup attempt and made both resulting free-throws.
Jacksonville (0-3) cut American's lead to nine, 19-10, at 7:09 but Jordan Nichols answered the Dolphins with a reverse layup from underneath the basket to move the score to 21-10. Carr gave the Eagles a 14 point lead, 26-12, at 4:53 with his third three of the frame before Gilmore scored five of his 12 first half points in 20 seconds to give AU a 17 point lead, its largest of the half. Gilmore hit a three from the right corner at 2:42 to take a 29-14 advantage and then hit two free throws after being fouled again on a fast break layup attempt to move the score to 31-14. Jacksonville would score six straight points before the intermission however as the Eagles took a 31-20 lead into the locker room.
American and Jacksonville traded buckets to open the second half and at the first media timeout AU still held on to an eight point lead, 38-30. Stephen Lumpkins moved the Eagles advantage back to double figures, 40-30, as Mercer found him alone in the lane for an easy lay-in. A Dolphin bucket and a pair of free-throws brought Jacksonville to within seven at 12:30 but Borden responded for AU with a pull-up jumper from the foul line to move the score to 43-34.
As the second half wore on the game turned much more physical as Jacksonville attempted to battle its way back into the game. Unwilling to back down, the Eagles matched the Dolphins intensity down the stretch led by Borden who drew his third charging foul of the game. With a nine point lead, Carr quickly moved AU's lead to 13, 58-45, with back-to-back pull-up threes. A Gilmore two-handed slam and Nichols layup gave the Eagles a 15 point advantage, 62-47, and after a Gilmore three from the right corner AU held an 18 point, 65-48, lead with 3:41 to play. Jacksonville would not go quietly though as the Dolphins cut AU's lead to eight, 69-61, with 1:07 remaining with an 8-0 run. The Eagles were able to hold on down the stretch however as they hit 6-of-8 free-throws in the last 48 seconds to preserve their lead and take the game by the the final score of 75-67.
Carr led the Eagles in scoring for the third straight game on Saturday with 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting. The senior hit 6-of-9 threes, pulled down three rebounds and stole two balls. Gilmore scored 18 points as AU's second-leading scorer. Gilmore was 5-of-7 seven from the field, including 3-of-3 from three, and also recorded three rebounds and four assists. Mercer rounded out American's double-digit scorers with 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Nichols led AU on the boards with nine. As a team, the Eagles combined to shoot 24-of-43 (55.8%) from the field, 11-of-18 (61.1%) from three and 16-of-20 (80.0%) from the line.
American will continue its four-game road swing on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at Stony Brook. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
