The American University Eagles entered the Patriot League Tournament as the second seed. With the league unlikely to earn any at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, the only way to make it to the Big Dance is to win the Patriot League title game. That's what the 22-9 Eagles were gunning for. A meeting in the Championship game with the Bucknell Bison seemed like the likeliest of scenarios.
All that ended tonight though. After 50 minutes of basketball, American saw their NCAA Tournament hopes disappear at the exact moment that Jim Mower hit a three-pointer with under one second remaining to give the Lafayette Leopards a 73-71 win in double-overtime.
Senior forward Vlad Moldoveanu had an impressive 25 points to lead all scorers tonight. Little did he know that it would come in his final game as an Eagle.
Jared Mintz led the Leopards with 18 points in the win. They will face the winner of the ongoing game between Bucknell and the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.