With 4.8 seconds remaining in regulation of yesterday's game against Holy Cross, American was trailing by one and sending its leading scorer, Andre Ingram, to the free throw line to shoot a one-and-one. It was a scenario the Eagles would have taken in an instant had it been offered prior to tip-off.
Ingram, who had played excellent basketball all game long and had made 78.9 percent of his free throws entering the game, swished the first free throw to tie the score but missed the second, sending the game into overtime where Holy Cross put it away, 76-67, in front of a crowd of 1,946 at Bender Arena.
The loss hurt American (13-8, 6-3 Patriot League) for several reasons, the principle of which was the damage it did to its chances of winning the regular season conference championship.
A win would have drawn American into a first-place tie with Holy Cross (17-5, 8-1) and sent the Eagles into a rough four-game road trip with a little extra momentum. Instead, American is in a second-place tie with Bucknell and Lehigh and sitting two games behind the Crusaders, who have won nine in a row and 11 of their past 12.
Asked if he would have taken a situation where the ball -- and the game -- were in Ingram's hands, American Coach Jeff Jones didn't hesitate.
"Absolutely," Jones said. "And I'd take it again next time. I feel bad for 'Dre because we as coaches and his teammates all know there is more to it than that. He's going to feel bad about it, but he shouldn't. There were a lot of things we could have done differently."
Despite shooting 38 percent from the field, the Eagles were in a position to win the game because they performed at a much higher level than they did during an ugly 80-56 loss at Holy Cross on Jan. 24.
Ingram was aggressive from the opening tip, hit 10 of 20 shots from the field and finished with 22 points and eight rebounds.
Holy Cross, which hit only 3 of 16 three-point attempts, received a major boost from reserve point guard Torey Thomas, who scored all 15 of his points after halftime. He also added six rebounds and had only two turnovers in 24 minutes.
Freshman Pat Doherty is the Crusaders' starter at point guard and was a vital contributor down the stretch in a win at Navy on Friday night, but Coach Ralph Willard said he was playing a hunch when he turned to Thomas late in regulation and in overtime yesterday.
Thomas rewarded his coach's faith by hitting a layup to tie the score at 48 and by nailing a crucial three-pointer to give Holy Cross a 53-50 lead with 3 minutes 38 seconds left. In overtime, Thomas gave Holy Cross a 65-61 lead with another drive to the basket and also hit 5 of 7 free throws to help ice the game.
"I told Torey after the Navy game that he was going to have to be ready to help," Willard said. "It was great to see him not hang his head and come in and help us when he got the opportunity."
To stay within reach of Holy Cross, American is going to have to withstand a stretch that includes consecutive games at Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette and Lehigh. The Eagles won't play again at home until the Feb. 26 regular season finale against Navy.
Holy Cross, meantime, gets to play four of its final five games at home.
"In order to be the kind of team we want to be, and that's a great team, we are going to have to face adversity," Ingram said. "We just have to go on the road and play like we know we can play."
