Nov. 18, 2007

Final Stats

Washington, D.C. - Senior Ricky Lucas (Herndon, Va.) scored a game-high 17 points and freshman Jermol Paul (Palm Beach, Fla.) added 14 but it wasn't enough as American used a 15-5 run midway through the second half and then hung on late for a 64-56 victory over the Stony Brook men's basketball team on Sunday afternoon. The Seawolves fall to 0-4 with the loss while American improves to 2-2.

Lucas, the America East Player of the Game, hit five of his 10 field goal attempts and went six of seven from the line. Paul had the best game of his young career, scoring 14 points in 24 minutes of action.

"We played very well at times today," Stony Brook head coach Steve Pikiell said. "Now its just a matter of playing a full 40 minutes of basketball."

American led most of the way in first half , scoring 24 of their first 27 points using the three-point shot. The Seawolves trailed by as many as six at 17-11 but then went on a 9-3 run to close to within 20-19 with 6:20 left in the half on two Lucas free throws.

American would push the lead back to six but Stony Brook closed the deficit back to two on two Paul free throws before AU knocked in a shot with time expiring to head into the break with a four-point lead.

The Seawolves came out strong in the second half, taking its first lead of the game at 42-40 on a lay-in by junior Demetrius Young (Sacramento, Calif.) with 14:56 left in the game. After the Seawolves took the lead though, the Eagles clamped down, forcing Stony Brook to miss their next nine shots from the floor and turn the ball over five times over the next 9:31. By that point, American had taken 55-45 lead and then hit seven-of-eight free throws down the stretch to salt the game away.

The Seawolves closed to within three in the final minute but Paul missed a three from the left side and American knocked down its free throws to go on to the victory.

Garrison Carr and Bryce Simon led American with 15 points apiece while Derrick Mercer added 11 for American who held the Seawolves to 34 percent shooting for the game.

The Seawolves return to action on Saturday, hosting Columbia at 2 p.m.