Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. (3/2/11) – Vlad Moldoveanu scored a game-high 31 points as No. 2 American pulled away late to top No. 7 Colgate 69-53 Wednesday night in the Patriot League quarterfinal at Bender Arena. Junior forward Yaw Gyawu led the Raiders with 15 points, while classmate Nick Pascale scored 14 and grabbed seven rebounds.

After falling behind 49-39 with 10 minutes remaining the Raiders put together a 6-1 run to trim the Eagles lead to 50-45 with 7:15 left. But that was as close as the game would get as Moldoveanu scored 10 points including a pair of three pointers to give the Eagles an 11 point lead 58-47. American (22-8, 11-3 PL) would then finish the game with a 12-6 run to advance to the second round of the Patriot League Tournament for the ninth-straight season.

Both teams exchanged baskets in the first 10 minutes of action as American held a 16-15 lead. The Eagles then pieced together an 8-0 run to take a 24-15 lead with 3:41 remaining. But Colgate (7-23, 4-10 PL) was able to answer back with an 8-3 run to trim the lead to 27-23 with 34 seconds left. Moldoveanu would make a layup as time expired to make the score 29-23 at half time.

Colgate was able to keep the score close for a majority of the second half as sophomore Mitch Rolls made a pair of three pointers and scored 10 points before the Eagles went on an 18-4 run to build their largest lead of the game 68-49 with 1:41 remaining.

American also received 19 points and a game-high 15 rebounds from Stephen Lumpkins.

The Raiders return all but one player next season as senior captain Joe Hoban played his final game at Colgate and finished with four points and a team-high seven rebounds. As a senior Hoban finished second on the team in scoring with 10.0 points per game and the led the team with 47 steals.