This wild and historic season for the American University men's basketball team has nearly come off the rails twice in a week. Last Wednesday, with the chance to clinch the regular season Patriot League title (and with it, home court advantage throughout the conference tournament), the Eagles couldn't keep up with second-placed Navy and lost 83-68.

But the Midshipmen then turned around and helped them out by losing to Colgate, meaning their win last Saturday over Lafayette clinched the regular season title for AU. That set up the Eagles with a first-round matchup against rivals Holy Cross, seeded dead last in the conference, at Bender Arena in Tenleytown. But the beauty of conference tournaments -- and perhaps especially small conferences like the Patriot League -- is that anything can happen, and it nearly did on Wednesday. In front of a spirited crowd, American went behind early, trailing by as many as 11 in the first half, and found themselves down by six at the interval. But after the restart they quickly stormed back, with big threes from senior Garrison Carr and junior forward Bryce Simon.

The teams battled back and forth through the second half before a huge play by AU junior Brian Gilmore gave them the lead for good, 62-60, with 18 seconds left. As the clock ticked down below thirty seconds, Gilmore got the ball, fooled his defender with a pump-fake, and made the layup while getting fouled. He then knocked down his free throw, and American locked down Holy Cross on the other end to claim the win.

Don't look now, but that puts AU just two wins away from the program's first ever NCAA tournament bid. The Eagles will now advance to the league semifinals against fifth-seeded Army, which they'll host at Bender Arena on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are available online, and it's safe to expect standing room only for this one.