#2 American Avoids An Upset Bid From #7 Lafayette

Washington D.C.

By: Ethan Hennessy

#2 American and #7 Lafayette collided in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament. The Leopards picked up a narrow win over #10 Holy Cross in Easton on Tuesday while American had a first round bye. The last time these two teams met in the conference tournament was a double overtime classic in the semifinals of the 2023 Tournament that saw the Leopards emerge from the Kirby Sports Center with a win.

Early on Lafayette did not have Patriot League defensive player of the year Justin Vander Baan guarding his center counterpart and Patriot League all first team member Matt Rogers. Lafayette freshman Alex Chaikin along with Justin Vander Baan had the Leopards offense cooking. The duo scored twelve of the team’s first 17 points. American took the lead at the 9:53 mark when Matt Mayock connected on a running floater in the paint. Lafayette battled for the remainder of the first half and stretched the lead out to a game high nine points with 1:15 to go before halftime.

Lafayette took a double digit 34-23 lead over the hosts into intermission. American retook the lead with 10:34 left in the game. The Bender Arena crowd began to impact the Lafayette shooting. The basically sell out crowd was giving the Eagles a true home court advantage for the first time since early in the first half. Mike McGarvey said he thought American’s maturity really showed in the second half. American held off Lafayette’s multiple surges and won by a score of 71-69. American head coach Duane Simpkins said their fans which were fantastic is why they wanted to get home court advantage