Center scores 21 points in victory over Bison Building on a pair of strong performances on the road at Ivy League schools, American reserve center Riley Grafft came home Tuesday and made up for a rare off night for Charles Hinkle with a career-high 21 points in the Eagles’ 77-66 win over Howard.
The victory extended American’s streak of dominance in the District rivalry to nine games and pushed its current run of success to five wins in a row after an 0-2 start.
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The lanky 6-foot-11 senior, who made 16 starts as a sophomore, saw his minutes diminish last season with the emergence of Stephen Lumpkins, and he was still behind Tony Wroblicky on the depth chart at the start of the year after Lumpkins opted to play professional baseball.
But after 12 points in a 65-63 win at Cornell last weekend, Grafft set the tone with a 3-pointer as the Eagles (5-2) opened a 12-1 lead before a jump stop in the lane and short hook shot gave Howard (2-4) its first field goal.
“I’m just finishing easy baskets to be honest with you,” said Grafft, who missed only one shot, going 7-for-8 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 at the line. “My teammates were just putting me in a great position to finish.”
Grafft earned two free throws and finished a powerful two-handed dunk in transition to help American build its lead to as many as 13 points. He closed the half with another slam after a feed inside by Daniel Munoz (10 points, three assists) after Howard had trimmed that advantage down to two.
Hinkle, who entered the night as the third-leading scorer in the country at 24.0 points a game and had no fewer than 20 points in American’s first six games, didn’t score from the field until five minutes into the second half. Hinkle got 11 of his 17 points at the line along with seven rebounds, and Troy Brewer added 14 points and five assists.
A late 3-pointer for Simuel Frazier (11 points) prevented the Bison from leaving Bender Arena without having all their players fail to reach double figures.
