Eagles’ aggressive defense big in victory over Black Knights Shoved to the floor by a player from American University, Army’s Jason Pancoe got up close and personal with the bare feet of AU coach Jeff Jones.
In American’s 67-55 victory Saturday at Bender Arena, the play was a reminder of the game’s themes — the aggressive defense of the Eagles and the awareness Jones brings annually to Samaritan’s Feet, which provides shoes for needy children worldwide.
Recommended Stories
Senior guard Troy Brewer (22 points) hit four 3-pointers in the final eight minutes and sophomore Tony Wroblicky (12 points, nine rebounds) scored his career high for inspired American (13-7, 4-1) before 2,184.
The victory set up a clash Wednesday at defending Patriot League champion Bucknell (14-6, 4-0), which faced Holy Cross on Saturday night.
American’s top threat, senior Charles Hinkle (eight points, seven rebounds), scored 12 points fewer than his average. But he and freshman John Schoof (three points) helped set the ferocious tone for the AU defense, harassing Army’s top scorer, Ella Ellis (10 points), into 2-for-13 shooting. The junior matched his season low.
“That game was decided on the defensive end,” Jones said. “It might not have been a pretty thing for people watching the game. But we were really getting after it.”
Army (9-11, 2-3) had hit 29 of 52 attempts (56 percent) from beyond the arc in winning two straight. But the Black Knights missed 10 of their first 11 on Saturday as AU zealously defended the perimeter.
Army got only 10 points out of its first 24 possessions and fell behind 20-10 as Wroblicky, Schoof and senior Simon McCormack muscled for conventional three-point plays. In the second half, Army never got the deficit to single digits despite six 3-pointers from senior guard Julian Simmons (18 points) and four from sophomore Josh Herbeck (12 points), many coming in garbage time.
“They like to shoot 3s in transition,” said AU junior Daniel Munoz (nine points, six assists). “A big key for us was to get back and make sure we close out the shooters at the beginning of possessions. That made them work.”
