American defeats Lafayette 81-73 for first conference win

EASTON, Pa. (AP) Jesse Reed and Delante Jones both scored 23 points to lead American past Lafayette 81-73 Wednesday as the Eagles earned their first win in Patriot Conference action this season.

Reed and Jones combined to shoot 17 for 27 from the field and 6 for 11 from beyond the 3-point arc.

Marko Vasic's 3-pointer before halftime gave American (3-15, 1-6) a 35-34 lead it would never surrender.

The Eagles started the second half with a 10-0 run on a 3-pointer from Reed, a Jones' layup, Paris Maragkos' 3-point play and another layup by Vasic in the first three minutes.

Trailing 54-45 with 11:15 left, Lafayette used a 7-2 run to cut the lead to four. But American continued to thwart each Lafayette run as the Leopards never could reduce the deficit to less than four points.

Bryce Scott led Lafayette (5-13, 2-5) with 17 points and Matt Klinewski added 16 points and five rebounds.