EASTON, Pa. – Sophomore Alex Petrie's falling-away driving layup from the right block with three seconds to play proved the difference in the fifth straight victory for the Lafayette men's basketball team on Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center, defeating American by a final of 70-68.

The game started as a marquee night for senior co-captain Paulius Zalys, who became the program's 45^th 1,000-point scorer early in the second half. But it ended with a victory in large part due to the play of Petrie down the stretch, who scored the Leopards' final seven points in the last three minutes to move Lafayette to 7-8 in conference play and 10-16 overall.

With less than two minutes to play and American up five, Petrie's jumper made it a three-point game at 68-65. The defense got yet another stop, allowing just two points in the final three minutes of action, setting up Petrie's finish through a foul with the free throw tying it at 68-68.

On the ensuing possession, American's Sa'eed Nelson, the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year and second in the league in scoring at 19.3 points per game, drew a foul and went to the line for 1-and-1 to potentially take the lead into the final seconds. Instead, he missed the front end, setting up Petrie's heroics to win it.

Zalys led the Leopards offensively on his milestone night, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-14 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc. Petrie added 14, while classmate Justin Jaworski and junior Lukas Jarrett chipped in with 13 and 11, respectively.
Lafayette uncharacteristically did the majority of its work from the paint, scoring 40 of its 70 points from inside. The Leopards went just 5-of-18 from three-point range (27.8%), but hit 26-of-58 overall (44.8%) and converted from the charity stripe 13-of-15 times (86.7%).

Seven straight from Nelson answered an early stalemate to put American up by a 9-5 score after the first four minutes. Jaworski got going with back-to-back triples in response to move the Leopards in front at the 12-minute timeout, 16-15.
American made another run through the midway point of the half, leading by as many as seven on a Stacy Beckton Jr.  layup with 7:59 on the clock. But a Zalys triple from the left wing, followed by a Petrie steal and run-out layup brought the Leopards back within three, 27-24.

Another 6-2 run from the visitors put the Eagles' lead at seven with 2:09 left in the half, 33-26. Zalys and Jaworski worked an inbounds play with less than 40 seconds left to make it a four-point game, but Nelson's off-balance layup answered and took the game to intermission with the visiting lead at six, 35-29.

Five straight out of the locker room for the Maroon and White tied the game at 35, but American made its move over the next four minutes, using a 14-4 run to open up a 10-point advantage at the 15:18 mark, 49-39. Lafayette settled in toward the midway point as an E.J. Stephens finish over the Eagle defense and a pair at the foul line from Jarrett made it 52-47 with 11:48 remaining.

American carried its lead out to eight again on a Nelson free throw with 10:41 on the clock, but Petrie's shake-and-bake set up an easy 10-foot jumper to make it five again with 7:33 to play, 62-57. Lafayette got its stops over the next four minutes, but the offense couldn't close the gap as a jumper from Sam Iorio, Allentown, Pennsylvania native and high school teammate of Lafayette junior Kyle Stout, took it to the final timeout with the margin still at five, 66-61. From there, though, Lafayette turned it on, scoring seven of the game's final nine points after that timeout to win it.

Lafayette moves on to a weekend clash with Bucknell in its next contest, traveling to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on Sunday with opening tip slated for 2 p.m.