Jan. 15, 2005
Box Score
WASHINGTON, D.C. (www.lafayette.edu) - Down six points with 43 seconds left, Lafayette rallied to tie the game at 74-74, but a leaning 17-footer by Andre Ingram with less than a second remaining gave American a 76-74 win on Saturday afternoon.
After Ingram put the Eagles ahead 74-68 with two free throws, Marcus Harley responded with a jumper with 35 seconds left. A quick foul put Linas Lekavicius at the line, and he missed them both. Harley came back with another basket with 22 seconds on the clock.
Bilal Abdullah knocked the ball away from Jason Thomas on the inbounds play. Paul Cummins retrieved it and went strong to the rim, making the game-tying layup with 13.7 seconds left and drawing the foul. Following a timeout by American, Cummins missed the free throw and Matej Cresnik got the rebound. The Eagles got the ball to Ingram on the right wing, and the sophomore killed his dribble, turned and tossed a leaning jumper that fell through with 0.4 seconds left to win the game.
Lafayette (5-10, 1-2) trailed 42-35 at the half and 53-41 with 16:29 remaining before the Leopards held American (9-6, 2-1) scoreless for the next 4:38. Sean Knitter, Harley and Cummins hit three-pointers in the interim to cut the margin to 53-50.
Knitter, who had team-highs of 17 points, 10 rebounds and three steals, scored eight straight for Lafayette culminating with a three that brought the Leopards within 64-62 with 6:35 left.
Harley finished with 13 points and Abdullah had 10. Cummins and Andrei Capusan both scored eight points off the bench.
Ingram netted 20 for American, with Thomas (15), Lekavicius (14) and Cresnik (13) all hitting double figures.
Lafayette will close its non-conference schedule at home against Penn on Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m.
