Feb. 18, 2008

Game Notes

• WWRC 1260 AM (Play-by-Play: Mike Vaillancourt; Color: Jeremy Huber) in the Washington, D.C., metro area
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The American University men's basketball team on Wednesday hosts Army at 7:30 p.m., hoping to maintain or extend its 1 ½ game lead in the Patriot League standings and sweep Army for the sixth time in seven years in the league.

American has already clinched a winning record in League play and has a chance to lock up a first-round home game with a win Wednesday. The Eagles can guarantee at least a share of the regular-season title if they win and second-place Navy loses its game versus Holy Cross.

The Eagles have won a season-high five straight games, their longest such regular season Patriot League winning streak since joining the league in 2001. American won six straight games against PL foes in 2004, including the first two rounds of the PL Tournament.

AU is 7-0 against the Black Knights in Bender Arena, all but one of which has come by double-digits. The lone exception was a 65-63 double-overtime victory on Jan. 18, 2006. Overall, the Eagles lead the series, 12-2. Army defeated AU, 60-55, in West Point, N.Y., last season, its first win over American since 1963.

American has already defeated the Black Knights once this season, 66-53, on January 23. In that game, Garrison Carr led the Eagles with 17 points, while Brian Gilmore scored a then-career-high 16 points. AU outshot the Black Knights, 51.2 percent to 38.6 percent, and never trailed after the 17:55 mark of the first half. Army's Jarell Brown led all scorers with 24 points.

Two players have carried the Eagles offensively over AU's recent five-game win streak. Junior guard Garrison Carr is averaging 24.8 points per game over that stretch, while shooting 54.7 percent overall and 49.1 percent from three-point land. He has hit 26 threes in the last five games. Meanwhile, junior forward Brian Gilmore is notching 12.2 ppg while shooting 58.1 percent from the field and 58.8 percent from outside the arc. Led by that tandem, the Eagles are scoring 73.4 ppg during the streak, shooting 53.6 percent and 45.5 percent from three-point range as a team.

The Black Knights have lost two straight and three of their last five games. Brown leads Army in scoring at 19.3 ppg, but that figure dips to 18.2 ppg in Patriot League play. Josh Miller is the Black Knights' next leading scorer, at 7.6 ppg. Army prides itself on defense, holding opponents to just 41.9 percent shooting.