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February 12, 2003

American Knocks Off Lehigh by 10, 69-59
Andres Rodriguez scores career-high 17 points

Andres Rodriguez had the first double-double of his career in AU's win over Lehigh.

Boxscore

WASHINGTON -- Andres Rodriguez (San Juan Puerto Rico/Colegio San Ignacio) turned in the first double-double of his career as he scored a career-high 17 points and dished out ten assists to lead American University to a 69-59 victory over Lehigh. The win elevates American to a second-place tie with Lehigh in the Patriot League.

Rodriguez was four-of-five from the field and three-of-four from three-point land as he took advantage of a Lehigh defense that was geared to slowing down the outside shooting of Glenn Stokes (Silver Spring, Md./Albert Einstein) and Steve Miles (Alexandria, Va./Hayfield, Va.). In addition to his scoring and ballhandling, Rodriguez tied his career-high for rebounds with seven.

Stokes collected ten points and handed out four assists while Miles knocked down 19 points on 6-of-12 shooting (four-of-seven from three-point land). Miles also hauled down eight rebounds for the second consecutive game and handed out two assists in 34 minutes. American is now 12-11 overall, and 7-3 in Patriot League play while Lehigh is 15-8 overall, and 7-3 in conference action.

“We need to play better for longer periods of time than we did today,” said American University head coach Jeff Jones. “We played well in spurts, but could not sustain it for very long and that is dangerous against a team like Lehigh. Lehigh is well-coached, efficient and has a habit of hanging around in games."

Lehigh made a big move in the beginning of the second half. They cut an 11-point deficit (30-19) to two points as the Mountain Hawks went on a 11-2 run (32-30). Matt Crawford started things with a layup and finished the run with a free throw. Matt Logie had a three while Zlat Savovic had a trey and layup. However, Jernavis Draughn (Potomac, Va./Triangle) scored a pair of baskets and Miles knocked down a three and AU never led by less than five points the rest of the way. Logie finished with 20 points for Lehigh while Crawford chipped in ten points and eight rebounds. Draughn finished with a game-high ten rebounds and six points.

Matej Cresnik (Velenje, Slovenia,/University of Ljubljana) came off the bench and scored 11 points and grabbed three rebounds in 28 minutes. He also hit a key three-pointer with 3:15 left to ice the game for the Eagles.

American passed the ball extremely well, collecting 19 assists on 22 made baskets. The 19 assists ties the season-high set against George Washington. American also had 13 treys for the second time this season, just one short of the team record of 14.

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The Eagles (12-11/7-3) have now won four games in a row and are undefeated in the month of February. They will next play at Holy Cross on February 21, 2003. Tip-off is at 9:00 p.m.