The men’s basketball team was up 11 points going into the half at American University in the Patriot League quarterfinal on Thursday night.
Freshman guard Alex Chaikin was fresh off a 12-point first half in which he went 3-for-4 from the 3-point line, and the Leopards had completely shut down American first team all-league forward Matt Rogers. The Maroon and White were shooting 56% from the field.
But the No. 2 seeded Eagles (13-5 Patriot League, 20-12 overall) proved too much to overcome, as they outlasted the Leopards’ perimeter defense by finding the extra pass on offense throughout the second half, and won the game by two points, 71-69.
The Leopards (7-11 Patriot League, 13-20 overall) and Eagles each went on scoring runs throughout the first half, with American up by as many as five points with 7:06 to play. However, the Maroon and White went on a 16-0 run to finish the half 34-23, thanks to a 7-9 stretch from the field.
However, the Eagles began to chip away at the lead early in the second half, getting it down to six points in just three minutes. Although the Leopards stretched it out to as many as 10 again, the Eagles capitalized on their possessions, shooting for 57.1% from the field and 63.6% from the 3-point line in the second half, and took the lead just before the midway point in the half.
“I think defensively we didn’t rotate as well as we did the first half,” Chaikin said. “I thought they got much easier looks, which kind of led to their comeback.”
While Chaikin continued to cash in from the 3-point line, making five threes in the second half alone, the rest of the Lafayette offense stagnated, and turnovers allowed the Eagles to bank 11 points in the second half.
“I would say the difference that we could have came out better for the second half was their aggressiveness on defense,” senior center Justin Vander Baan said. “Especially those first couple minutes, they kind of dictated where we caught the ball.”
Chaikin finished the game with eight made 3-pointers and a career-high 29 points.
Vander Baan — the third-ranked blocker in the NCAA by blocks per game — tallied five in the match but was stymied offensively in the second half.
While the Maroon and White limited Rogers to just five points in the game, Vander Baan noted that the other players “stepped up.”
“We knew they have multiple solid players, multiple solid experienced guys,” Vander Baan said. “Their more experienced players, even some of the younger guys stepped up, to kind of fill that offensive void because we definitely didn’t want him to beat us.”
Costly turnovers from the Leopards allowed American to ride a 3-point lead in the last two minutes of the game. With 30 seconds left to play, the Leopards opted not to foul on an inbound, which allowed American to run about 10 seconds off the clock before Lafayette fouled.
Chaikin said the Maroon and White were hoping to get a trap and not send the Eagles to the free-throw line while down three points.
However, they were forced foul to stop the clock, allowing American to stretch the lead to five. With 21 seconds left to play, head coach Mike McGarvey called his final timeout before the free throws to organize the team.
Although Chaikin nailed an off-balance three in the corner to cut the lead to two, the Maroon and White could not stop the clock and had to resort to fouling again, which allowed American to put the game on ice and end the Leopards’ season.
Chaikin led the Leopards in scoring this season with 446 points and said he is looking to take that “confidence” into next season.
Vander Baan, who transferred to Lafayette from Boston College after his freshman year, finished his career at Lafayette with 886 points and 186 blocks.
“I love this place,” Vander Baan said. “Obviously, it’s my second school, but it’s home for me.”
