Dec 20, 2008
Carr Breaks 1,000 Points, Leads AU to 74-61 Victory over UMBC
Dec. 20, 2008
WASHINGTON - The American University men's basketball team built a 22 point halftime lead and then withstood a strong second-half charge to defeat UMBC on Saturday, 74-61, at the Retriever Activities Center in Baltimore, Md. Garrison Carr scored a career-high 34 points to lead the Eagles and became just the 27th player in AU history to surpass 1,000 points.
American (5-5) sprinted out to an 18 point lead, 25-7, 10 minutes into the game with Carr leading the way. The senior hit back-to-back three's to give AU an 8-0 lead with 17:00 minutes to play before connecting on a jumper from just outside the lane to push the lead to 12, 14-2. Carr moved the Eagles advantage to 15, 19-4, shortly after with his third three of the half and then hit a left handed lay-in with 10:11 remaining to give American a 25-7 lead. That bucket gave Carr 15 points through the first 10 minutes of the half and marked his 1,000th career point.
Bryce Simon, returning from a knee injury suffered during last year's Patriot League Semifinals, made his first appearance of the year midway through the half and hit a three from the right wing off a pass from Carr the first time he touched the ball to give American a 19 point lead, 28-9. Simon later found Jordan Nichols on a back-door cut for an easy lay-in to give the Eagles a 23 point lead, 34-11, with 5:38 to play. Carr hit his fourth three of the frame with 3:40 on the clock to answer a UMBC three and regain a 23 point advantage. Matthew Wilson then connected on a tough layup from underneath the basket to give American a 25 point lead, its biggest lead of the half, 39-14. Jay Greene hit a three with under one minute to play for UMBC, sending the team's into the locker room at the half with AU leading by 22, 39-17.
While AU was hot on the offensive end, shooting 46.4 percent (13-28) from the floor, the team's performance on defense and on the boards was just as impressive. The Eagles limited UMBC to just 27.3 percent (6-22) shooting from the floor and pulled down 24 rebounds to UMBC's nine.
Carr picked up in the second half where he left off in the first, connecting on his first two three-point attempts to increase American's lead to 26, 45-19. UMBC would then cut AU's lead to 15, 49-34, on the strength of a 15-4 run. Matt Spadafora scored seven points for the Retrievers during the stretch which lasted five-plus minutes while Derrick Mercer scored all four points for American. Nick Hendra ended the UMBC run with a driving layup and was followed by yet another Carr three to push the Eagles lead back to 20, 56-36, with 11:23 to play in the game.
The Retrievers made a second run at the lead as Darryl Proctor capped off a 7-0 UMBC run to move the score to 60-45. After two Brian Gilmore free-throws, UMBC scored four straight buckets, including seven straight points scored by Justin Fry, to pull to within 8, 62-54, with 3:12 remaining. Carr hit an NBA length three to push AU's lead back to 11, 65-54, with 1:52 to play but Proctor answered back with two free throws to bring the score back to within nine. Hendra made it a double-digit game again with two free-throws after being intentionally fouled on a breakaway and on the ensuing possession Carr pushed the lead to 13, 69-56, with a pair of his own free-throws. AU would then ice the game from the line as Carr, Gilmore and Mercer combined to hit 5-of-6 free-throws in the last minute before the final buzzer sounded AU's win, 74-61.
Carr finished the game with a career-high 34 points on 10-of-18 shooting. The senior was 8-of-15 from three and a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. Carr's 34 points put his career total at 1,019, good for 26th place all-time at AU.
Mercer was the Eagles second leading scorer at 13 points and finished the game one point shy of the 1,000 point plateau himself. Mercer shot 4-of-9 from the field and also grabbed eight rebounds. Nichols added a season-high nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and Gilmore lead the team on the boards with 11.
American returns to action on Monday, Dec. 22, as the team travels to College Park, Md., to face Maryland live on Comcast SportsNet. Tipoff from the Comcast center is scheduled for 7:45 p.m.
