West Point, NY – In a battle between two top Patriot League teams, Army West Point (10-8. 4-1) handed the American Eagles (12-4, 4-1) its first conference loss of the season, Wednesday night at Christl Arena.
Army was led by true freshman Ethan Roberts who scored 20 points on 5-8 shooting, including hitting on two threes and grabbing four rebounds.
Army got off to a 10-7 start, behind another hot start from big man Charlie Peterson who posted a quick six points in the first four minutes of action. Army immediately began to extend its lead when Isaiah Caldwell and Roberts hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions. Several minutes later, Roberts connected again from deep to push Army lead to 21-9. Jalen Rucker continued his hot shooting and made a three before the half as Army took a 32-19 lead into the break.
Army brought the defense in the first half holding American to 33.3% shooting from the field and just 2-11 from three-point yielding only 19 first half points.
In the second half, Roberts converted on a three-point play and then Army pushed its lead out to 20 behind back-to-back buckets by Charlie Peterson. Peterson, has now scored 10+ points in six straight games with his career high 19 points tonight.
TJ Small provided 14 good minutes off the bench, knocking down a three-pointer, totaling four points.
Jalen Rucker got his teammates involved all night dishing out six assists.
Army controlled much of the second half, with standing a mini run by American to bring the game to 11 points with two minutes to play, but Army stayed true at the foul line going 5-5 to widen the margin and securing the 72-60 win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Rucker's six assists ties his game high this season.
• Army held American to 4-19 (21.1%) shooting from three-point.
• Army shot 64.1% (25-39) compared to American's 44.9% (22-49).
• Charlie Petersonposted a career high 19 points. Peterson has scored 10+ points in six straight contests dating back to 12/20/22 at Central Connecticut State.
• Ethan Roberts shot a perfect 8-8 from the foul line.
Coaches Corner "We turned the page (from Monday) with one day of prep. It's hard to get a lot done in that time. Our guys were able to mentally lock in to what they needed to do and mentally they come out with a fight that you would expect and want. That is an American team that has been playing great basketball and playing with tons of confidence. I thought our guys really set the tone on the defensive end." -- Head Coach Jimmy Allen
Up NextArmy will travel to face Boston University (9-9, 2-3) on Saturday, January 14 at 1pm.
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