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December 3 , 2002

Boxscore

Steve Miles scored a season-high 21 points in AU's victory over Liberty.

Steven Miles Leads American to First Victory
Miles scores season-high 21 points in win

Lynchburg, Va.— Senior Steve Miles (Alexandria, Va./Hayfield) scored 21 points, and saved his best for last, as he led the Eagles past Liberty University by five points in overtime, 72-67. Miles scored two points in the first 20 minutes of the game, 13 in the second half and his two treys in the overtime period proved to be the final difference. Miles was also tough on the glass, pulling down seven rebounds, tying him with Andres Rodriguez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/Louisville) for rebounding honors.

AU trailed throughout much of the game, but the Eagles had one particularly bad three minute period in the second half when their deficit rose from six points with 11:37 remaining in the half to 14 points with little more than 9:02 left. However, American slowly chipped away at the deficit behind the three-point shooting of Matej Cresnick (Velenje, Slovenia/Univerza V Ljubljani), Ric Patiejunas (Vilnius, Lithuania/Vilnius College) and Miles. Miles went on to score the final seven points for American and seven of the last eight points scored in regulation. He followed a pair of free throws with a trey, and then hit two more free throws to knot things up at 59.
Miles did not cool off in the overtime. Patiejunas got things going with a three, and then Miles hit back-to-back treys to give the Eagles a 68-63 lead with just over 39 seconds to play. Miles finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and one assist. Patiejunas chipped in with nine points in the first start of his Eagle career.

Glenn Stokes (Silver Spring, Md./Tallahassee CC) iced the game by hitting four straight free throws in the last twenty seconds of overtime. He was second in scoring with ten points and he notched four rebounds. Jernavis Draughn (Triangle, Va./Potomac Senior) struggled with foul trouble all evening, but managed eight points, four rebounds and a blocked shot.

American (1-3) will next play Radford University on December 6, 2002, its’ first home game of the season.