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AU Men’s Basketball Lands Pair of Outstanding Recruits for 2004-05 Season
Lay and LeClair hope to make immediate impact

Jeff Jones will begin his fifth year on the sidelines for the Eagles.

July 27 , 2004

WASHINGTON - The American University men’s basketball team officially announced its recruiting class for the 2004-05 campaign. The two future Eagles are Travis Lay (Rockville, Md./Bullis) School and Coleman “Corey” LeClair (Chicago, Ill./Brewster Academy).

“We are very excited about these two young men,” said American University head coach Jeff Jones. “They are both tremendously competitive, driven and we look forward to them both being solid contributors.”

Lay is a 6-5 210-pound forward, who was thought to be one of the top inside-outside athletes in the Washington D.C. area. He was named first team All-County his last two years and first team All-IAC as a junior. As a senior he averaged 17.8 points, 13.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. Lay shot 47 percent from the floor.

As a junior Lay averaged 16.3 points and 12.5 rebounds per game while shooting 54 percent from the field. A rugged inside player, Lay went to the free throw line 100 times more than any of his Bullis teammates, and shot 72 percent from the line.
Lay led Bullis to the Interstate Athletic Conference championships in both 2002 and 2003, and the Bulldogs posted a 19-1 record in conference play those two years.

LeClair comes to American from Brewster Academy, where he averaged 10.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game to go along with nearly two blocks a game. LeClair is a 6-9 240-pound forward who is known as a strong interior player.

"Coley has been a tremendous addition to our program and entire community here at Brewster. He’s a very skilled power forward, who rebounds exceptionally well and has outstanding hands,” said Jason Smith, head coach for Brewster Academy. “He’s very unselfish and is a team player, and will have an excellent career at American University.”

American University, which fields a 19-sport NCAA Division I athletics program featuring 10 women’s sports and nine for men, completed its third year of membership in the Patriot League.Since joining the Patriot League, the University has captured league championships in men’s cross country, women’s cross country, field hickey, women’s lacrosse, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and women’s volleyball, field hockey and two regular-season title in men’s basketball.