In his final two seasons at the Bullis School, Rockville native Travis Lay was Mr. Everything for Bulldogs coach Mike Hibbs and his teammates, leading his squad to a pair of Interstate Athletic Conference titles with one dominating all-around performance after another.
Lay produced averages of 16.3 points and 12.5 rebounds a junior and pushed those numbers to 17.8 points, 13.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists as a senior.
During his first three years at American University, Lay was forced to drop the above moniker of ‘‘Mr. Everything” while playing mostly a reserve role for Eagles coach Jeff Jones and even though he’s cracked the starting lineup this season and produced career highs in most categories, the team’s clearly defined go-to players are guards Garrison Carr (18.1 points per game) and Derrick Mercer (12.5 ppg).
As only one of two seniors and the only one playing significant minutes, however, Lay has taken on another meaningful role, call it ‘‘Mr. Intangible”, a position his teammates believe helped key American’s historic first-ever entrance to the upcoming NCAA Tournament after a 52-46 win over Colgate during Friday’s Patriot League tournament final on American’s campus at Bender Arena in Washington.
‘‘Travis Lay, he is our senior leader and he kept the team together, basically,” said Mercer. ‘‘He works hard. He rebounds, sets hard screens so we can get open. He does all he can for us. That’s why we love him.”
Carr, who earned Patriot League tournament Most Valuable Player honors, would agree with Lay’s role on a team that was picked to finish fifth among eight teams in the league’s preseason poll, but instead won the league’s regular-season and tournament titles and will enter NCAA tournament play with a 21-11 record. American got a No. 15 seed in the East Region and will play second-seeded Tennessee (29-4) in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday.
‘‘Travis Lay means so much to this team,” Carr said. ‘‘Travis has definitely been a steady player on the team all year. He adds senior leadership. He’s a smart, intelligent person and he gives advice when you’re down and he brings you back down to earth when we’re too higher on ourselves. He does whatever it takes for the team to win.”
And Lay has loved every minute of it after logging 15 or fewer minutes per game during his first three years with the Eagles when he averaged a combined 2.3 points and 2.4 rebounds per game with seven starts in 68 appearances.
‘‘To be able to play more, to contribute more, obviously makes this much more enjoyable,” said Lay minutes after taking his turn cutting down the net following the championship win over Colgate that was aired on ESPN2. ‘‘It’s crazy. I’ve never been [to the NCAA Tournament] before. I’ve known guys who have. I really don’t know how to describe it.”
Besides being the team’s emotional and psychological leader on and off the court, Lay has produced career highs in points (6.0 per game), rebounds (4.1, tied for first on the team) and minutes (21.1) per game. He’s also shooting a career-best 68.4 percent from the field and knocked down the lone 3-pointer of his career.
‘‘It’s been a lot of ups and downs for sure,” Lay said of his time at American. ‘‘In years past we’ve had a lot of expectations coming in and not always been able to get it done. This year, the expectations weren’t quite as high but we just exceeded them on. Nobody expected that at the beginning of the year. We proved that we’re tough throughout the year.”
