American Doomed Again by Slow Start on Road

By Dan Steinberg, The Washington Post

Friday, December 30, 2005

BURLINGTON, Vt., Dec. 29 -- By now, the pattern has become perfectly familiar. American leaves Bender Arena for a road game and immediately falls into a massive first-half pit. After halftime, the Eagles improve dramatically, but that improvement comes 20 minutes too late.

During a 72-62 loss to Vermont on Thursday night, the cycle repeated itself inside a cozy New England gymnasium. As freezing rain fell outside, the Eagles fell behind by 22 during a miserable half in which they made just 23 percent of their shots. They rattled Vermont (5-5) with full-court pressure in the second half and surged several times, but never got closer than nine points.

"We emphasized, not getting off to a good start but just not getting buried," American Coach Jeff Jones said. "It's not for lack of effort, clearly, but there's example after example after example of poor production in the first half."

American is 3-8 overall, 0-8 away from home. This was the fifth straight road game in which the Eagles saw their chances ruined in the opening minutes. Against Loyola (Md.) last month, they were down 20 at halftime but rallied with a 22-2 second-half run. Against Maryland last week, they trailed by 26 at halftime, then played the Terps to a second-half draw. Over their past five road games, the Eagles have trailed by an average of 22 points at halftime.

Thursday night they took a 4-1 lead, and then their offense vanished. They went more than nine minutes without making a field goal. Over that span the Catamounts, whose roster includes seven freshmen and no seniors, went on a 26-2 run.

American guard Arvydas Eitutavicius had nine first-half points; his teammates combined for seven. American finished the first half with more than three times as many turnovers (seven) as assists (two).

Vermont, led by former Catholic head coach and Maryland assistant Mike Lonergan, had plenty to do with the first-half score. The Catamounts, who lost four starters from the team that won its third straight America East title last season, shot 77 percent in the first half. Their starters missed just one shot in the half.

"We were really clicking offensively," said Lonergan, who lost his first three games as a Division I coach but has now won five of seven. "You just never can relax."

After halftime, as they so often do, the Eagles settled down. Guards Andre Ingram and Derrick Mercer began heading to the rim and drawing fouls. Eitutavicius stayed hot, finishing with a career-high 20 points. Freshman Brian Gilmore provided a spark off the bench, dunking a put-back and scoring a career-high six points.

But after another poor first half, it hardly mattered.

"It's a 40-minute game," Jones said. "We just have to be better early."

HOWARD 78, MERCER 74: In Chattanooga, Louis Ford's three-pointer with nine seconds left lifted the Bison to victory in the first round of the Dr Pepper Classic.

Howard (2-6) had five players in double figures and made 7 of 18 three-point attempts. Mercer (1-6) was just 1 of 11 behind the arc.

NAVY 86, SUSQUEHANNA 54: Clif Colbert scored 19 points and had five steals to lead the Midshipmen (5-5) at home.

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