American surprises DePaul in men's basketball, 62-57

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- American Coach Jeff Jones had high expectations for Vlad Moldoveanu.

However, Moldoveanu's performance on Wednesday night still caught Jones off guard.

Nick Hendra hit a go-ahead 3-pointer, and Moldoveanu scored 26 points in his season debut off the bench as American upset DePaul 62-57 on Wednesday night.

Moldoveanu, a junior forward, was eligible for the first time after transferring from George Mason midway through the 2008-09 season.

"This kind of game was certainly was within consideration, but I think but it's been a while since he played in games," Jones said. "When he was at George Mason and when he even when he was in high school, he was never the guy.

"This is different for Vlad. Maybe the only time he has been the focus from an offensive standpoint is when he played for the Romanian National team this summer, so we were not sure. He's our best player, that's not going to surprise anyone, but sometimes it takes a while to really set in." Hendra's 3-pointer put the Eagles (2-8) up 59-57 with 2:28 remaining. After Will Walker missed a 3-point attempt for DePaul (6-4), Daniel Munoz was fouled and made a pair of free throws to put American up 61-57 with 34.4 seconds left.

Hendra finished with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Devin Hill scored 14 points and Walker added 13 for the Blue Demons, who played without center Mac Koshwal for the seventh straight game because of a left foot injury.

"When you're missing people and you're young, you can't afford to have off days and off possessions," Blue Demons coach Jerry Wainwright said. "We were just a step slow. We just didn't have our usual bounce, and it came back to haunt us." The 6-foot-9 Moldoveanu scored seven points during a 9-2 run by American in the second half. His jumper gave the Eagles a 55-50 lead with 4:32 remaining.

"It was mostly the coaches and the guys on the team that made the transition very smooth for me," Moldoveanu said. "They helped me a lot. I'm just trying to fit in, but at the same time, I'm trying to win games." DePaul trailed by 10 early in the second half but got back in the game with a 11-0 run keyed by Hill's seven points during the span. Hill's free throw gave DePaul a 35-34 lead.

Leading 18-17 in the first half, American scored nine straight points. Hendra made a 3-pointer, and Moldoveanu connected on a jumper to give the Eagles a 27-17 lead with six minutes remaining in the half.

Mike Bizoukas' layup cut the American lead to 32-24 with four seconds to play before halftime.

During the first half, the Eagles were 5 of 11 from 3-point range and held DePaul to 35.7-percent shooting.