Eagles soar above Colgate in PLT starter
Ron Bailey, Publisher
AU keeps unbeaten, first round Patriot League Tournament streak alive.
March 3, 2011 - Ranked second in this year's Patriot
League Tournament, American University (22-8 overall, 11-3 in conference)
hosted seventh seeded Colgate (7-23, 4-10) last night. Prevailing 69-53,
it was not a night of surprises for the Eagle faithful.
Vlad Moldoveanu, a senior, first team all-league forward at American,
led all scorers with 31 points, while also pulling down seven rebounds.
Of a performance in which he seemingly scored at will, Moldoveanu noted
afterwards "The guys did a great job of finding me open, setting
good screens; it was just me, you know".
Junior forward Stephen Lumpkins finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds,
though his coach, Jeff Jones, didn't rave about his performance, instead
saying "Nineteen and 15, and quite honestly, he didn't have a great
game"; The coach, who indicated "If he ever put it all together
could be very good", has very high expectations for Lumpkins, and
could be heard pushing his player on the sideline.
Vlad Moldoveanu went to work.
Jones was bullish on the play of senior guard Nick Hendra, who didn't
score but finished with a crucial nine assists. "Nine assists, zero
turnovers...those are pretty good numbers" opined Jones of Hendra's
offensive output, while also indicating of Hendra's defensive effort:
"A real key; we thought coming in, we told the team they would go
to (junior forward Yaw Gyawu) early...And Nick Hendra guarded Yaw, who
is bigger, stronger, and has such a high motor". Hendra's effort
allowed Moldoveanu to guard other factors, thereby avoiding foul trouble.
Gyawu, paced the Raiders with 15 points and five rebounds, while fellow
third year guy, center Nick Pascale, logged 14 points, seven caroms, and
sophomore guard Mitch Rolls added 12 points and five helpers.
Outside of the first five minutes, American never trailed, leading by
as much as nine in the first half, 19 late in the second. As such the
game contained with few surprises save a minor one; Despite having some
success in a 2-3 zone, particularly in the first stanza, Colgate rarely
returned to it in the second.
Upon being asked to project why Colgate's head coach, Emmett Davis didn't
use more of his 2-3 zone, Jones replied: To be honest, coming into the
game we thought we would see more zone, or maybe, we prepared for a box
and one, something just a little bit different...I think in the second
half for the most part, it did get down to five (the lead); we were kind
of right on the verge a couple of times - if its 11 you go zone and leave
(Troy) Brewer (seven points, five boards), you leave Vlad (both shooters),
now all the sudden, 11 to 14 is a big difference. And coaches, and I'm
guilty of this...If you're not real comfortable or you don't play a lot
of zone, it's hard to pull that trigger".
Lumpkins, a cerebral sort, put this opening round win in perspective,
saying "It's one step closer to our goal of winning the Patriot League
Tournament (which disappointingly eluded them last season). So this is
a big step for us".
The next step for AU is Lafayette, a team they recently beat 95-92 in
double overtime on the road. "We escaped with a very hard fought
win" is how Jones characterized that contest. Sunday, American's
Bender Arena hosts the rubber match, a Patriot League Tournament semifinal
affair.
Audio Extras:
Lumpkins and Moldoveanu in post game presser