EASTON, Pa. - American grinded out a 69-61 victory over Lafayette on Saturday at Kirby Sports Center. The Eagles were paced by Charles Hinkle's game-high 23 points and 52 percent shooting from the field.

Three Lafayette players scored in double figures, led by Rob Delaney's 12 and 11 apiece from Ryan Willen and Dan Trist.

The Leopards opened the game by scoring nine of the first 12 points and lead by six at the first media timeout. Jim Mower knocked down a corner three off a feed from Tony Johnson, the first of his seven assists, to open the game and Trist scored two baskets inside to give Lafayette (9-13, 4-3) the early advantage.

Johnson's drive and left handed layup gave Lafayette an 18-11 lead, its largest of the half, at 9:37. American (14-8, 5-2) countered with a 13-5 spurt to take its first lead of the afternoon at 24-23 on Daniel Munoz's three from the top of the key.

Charles Hinkle's third three of the half put American ahead 35-28 with less than a minute to play and the visitors took that lead into the locker room.

Lafayette used a 10-2 run to take a 39-37 lead to start the second half. Johnson's one handed overhand pass found a cutting Willen, who was fouled and hit two free throws to pull Lafayette within one (35-34) less than 90 seconds into the half. A bucket put American back up by three, but Delaney connected on a wing trey to tie the score at 37 before Mower's baseline jumper capped the run with 16:55 showing.

Delaney's right handed layup put Lafayette ahead 44-43 at 14:28 prior to American scoring 12 straight points, the last five on a pair of Hinkle jumpers, forcing a Lafayette timeout with 9:36 to play.

Following two from Willen at the charity stripe, Lafayette scored seven of the next nine points to make it a five-point game with 6:21 left after Delaney's transition three.

Trailing 60-53, Willen kicked the ball out to the corner to a wide open Levi Giese, who drained the three and made it a four-point game with 5:22 to play. Lafayette once again went down four (65-61) after Johnson stripped Munoz in the backcourt and hit one of two at the line with 54 seconds to play.

The Leopards forced a jump ball and took possession with 27 seconds on the clock but Mower misfired on a three with 17 seconds to go and American hit four free throws to close out the game.

Lafayette returns to action when it hosts Navy on Saturday Feb. 4 at 1 p.m.

Notes:

Dan Trist has scored in double figures in three consecutive games.

Lafayette is now 1-9 this season when an opponent shoots better than 50 percent from the field.

The Lafayette and American coaching staffs participated in the Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers awareness weekend, a collaborative initiative of the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC).

For a full breakdown of the game's stats, click here.