Moldoveanu Leads American Over Delaware, 83-71, in Cable Car Classic Championship
December 30, 2010
Photos Courtesy of John Medina
• Boxscore
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- American University forward Vlad Moldoveanu scored 32 points to lead the Eagles to an 83-71 victory over Delaware in the 44th Annual Cable Car Classic Championship Game Thursday night at the Leavey Center.
Moldoveanu went 12 of 20 from the field, hit three three-pointers and drained all five of his free throw attempts while also pulling down seven rebounds for American, which improved to 9-5 on the season. Stephen Lumpkins added 15 points and a team-high nine boards, while Daniel Munoz contributed 11 points off the bench.
Delaware, which fell to 6-5 on the year and was denied its first in-season tournament championship since 1992, was led by Jawan Carter's 23 points, the fifth 20-point game of the year for the Blue Hen senior. Jamelle Hagins tied his season-high with 17 points to go with his team-leading eight rebounds, while Alphonso Dawson finished with 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting from behind the arc.
Josh Brinkley, making his first career start, contributed 10 points and four rebounds for the Blue Hens. Brinkley started in place of Hakim McCullar, who missed the game with a lower right leg injury.
Delaware connected on 24 of 46 field goal attempts to post a season-high 52.2 shooting percentage, but the Blue Hens could not disrupt the Eagles' offensive attack. UD, which held Santa Clara to just 28.8 percent during Wednesday's victory, allowed American to connect on 28 of 49 shots for a 57.1 percentage, the highest allowed by Delaware this season. The Blue Hens also did not record a block or a steal during the contest.
"Moldoveanu is very good, but we didn't do a real good job against him tonight," said UD fifth-year head coach Monté Ross. "But he's a great player and all credit goes to him. Defensively we just weren't sharp; we hang our hat on the defensive end but unfortunately tonight we didn't get the job done."
Moldoveanu was named the tournament's MVP and was selected to the All-Tournament Team along with Lampkins, Hagins, Brenton Butler of Fordham and Marc Trasolini of Santa Clara. Blue Hen guard Malcolm Hawkins earned the Sixth Man Award, while Ben Dowdell of Santa Clara was named the tournament's Most Inspirational Player.
Delaware went scoreless over the first 5:15 of the contest, as Moldoveanu scored the game's first seven points to give American the early lead. The Blue Hens would heat up, hitting five of their next six field goal attempts to pull within 15-13 at the 11:06 mark on a three-pointer by Dawson.
However the Eagles would counter, scoring six straight points before another Dawson triple made it a 21-16 game with 8:38 remaining. American would continue to extend its lead, as a three-point play by Munoz gave the Eagles a 32-19 advantage before Hagins hit a jumper in the paint for the Blue Hens.
Devon Saddler hit a jumper and Carter converted a three-point play in transition to bring Delaware within eight, but Moldoveanu drained two three-pointers in the final 37 seconds as American took a 40-26 lead into the half.
Hagins opened the second half with a layup, but Moldoveanu answered with five consecutive points to put the Eagles up 45-28 with 18:48 left in the game.
It was still a 17-point game after the teams exchanged baskets, but Delaware responded with a 12-2 spurt to pull within 49-42 at the 14:12 mark on Dawson's fourth three-pointer of the game. However the Blue Hens would then go scoreless over the next five minutes, and American would take advantage.
Munoz hit two layups for the Eagles before finding Simon McCormack in transition to up the advantage back to 13 with 12:37 left. The run extended to 10-0 after a layup by Tony Wroblicky and two free throws by McCormick before Brinkley ended UD's drought with a layup in the paint.
But Moldoveanu scored twice and Lumpkins converted a layup to put American up 65-46 with 6:44 remaining, and the Eagles took their largest lead at 71-51 at the 4:38 mark.
Delaware attempted to rally late led by Brinkley's six consecutive Blue Hen points, but UD could not get closer than 12 the rest of the way.
The Blue Hens return to Colonial Athletic Association play on Monday when Delaware travels to George Mason for a 7 p.m. tipoff with the Patriots.
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