February 14, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Junior Bryce Scott drained a career-high seven threes, but the Lafayette men's basketball team could not overcome a 12-point halftime deficit in Washington, D.C. on Saturday afternoon, losing to American by an 88-77 margin.

The loss is the third straight for Lafayette, dropping the Maroon and White to 6-8 in Patriot League play and 14-11 overall on the year. Both teams lit it up offensively, shooting over 55 percent from the floor and over 50 percent from beyond the arc. Lafayette dropped in 27-of-49 from the floor (55.1%) and 13-of-23 from three (56.5%), while American hit on 27-of-48 from the field (56.3%) and 13-of-24 from outside (54.2%). Struggles from the league-leaders in free-throw shooting proved costly as the Leopards made just 10-of-18 from the charity stripe (55.6%).

Scott led four double-figure scorers for the Leopards with 24 points, while sophomore Nick Lindner added 13 and seniors Dan Trist and Seth Hinrichs chipped in with 12 points apiece. For American, John Schoof tallied 23 points with 17 coming in the first half. Pee Wee Gardner, Jesse Reed and Kevin Panzer added 20, 19 and 15 points, respectively, for the Eagles as well.

Lafayette came out on the wrong side of a 31-21 rebounding margin and committed 10-plus turnovers for the fifth straight game with 15 on the day compared to 16 assists. Trist added 10 rebounds to his stat line for his fifth double-double of the season.

Scott came out and ripped the cords on the first possession from distance to put Lafayette on top, but eight straight from the Eagles gave them an 8-3 lead into the first media timeout. Two triples from Schooff and a pair of free-throws from Panzer extended the American edge to eight at 17-9 with 12 minutes remaining, but another triple from Scott, his third of the half, stopped the run.

Yet another from Scott and a pair of buckets from Trist pulled the Leopards within four at 25-21 at the midway point of the first. However, 12 back from American made it 37-21 with six minutes to play in the half.

Lafayette, for the third straight game, struggled offensively throughout the latter stages of the first half as another three from Schoof made it 42-24 Eagles with two minutes remaining. The Leopards found a mini run in them late, though, as a triple from Scott at the halftime buzzer moved the lead to 12 at 45-33 going into the break.

Scott's sixth triple of the game opened the second half as Lafayette trimmed the advantage to nine at 45-36. However, American responded with six straight to move the margin back to 15 again at 52-37 with 17:22 to play.

A drive-and-finish from Lindner at the 12:43 mark moved the American lead back into single digits at 56-47. American responded to push it out to 15 again at the 10-minute mark, but Trist finished on an and-one to make it 61-51 with 9:17 remaining.

Out of a timeout at the seven-minute mark, Scott hit his seventh triple of the day in as many tries to make it 65-55 and try to start another Lafayette surge. The Leopards worked the lead to eight at 4:30 to play, but a pair of free throws from Panzer at the four-minute mark moved it back to 10 at 72-62 and a three from Gardner made it 13 at 75-62 with three minutes left.

Ptasinski's three at the 2:31 mark made it 10 again at 77-67, but the Eagles made their free throws down the stretch to seal the game with a final score of 88-77.

Next up for the Leopards is a return to Kirby Sports Center on Wednesday, hosting Holy Cross at 7 p.m.