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WASHINGTON (AP) - Brian Burke scored 17 points to lead Lafayette to a 57-52 victory over American University on Wednesday night.

The Leopards, picked seventh in the preseason Patriot League poll, are now in a four-way tie for first place in the conference with American, Bucknell and Navy.

Lafayette (8-7, 2-1 Patriot League) used a match-up zone defense and superior rebounding to rally past American, which scored the game's first eight points and led by 10 late in the first half.

Steven Miles had 17 points for American (8-8, 2-1), which was forced into 17 turnovers and had its lowest scoring output of the season.

American led 29-19 late in the first half but Lafayette scored the last six points of the half. The Leopards took a 34-33 lead early in the second half on a layup by Burke. They extended the lead to 41-37 on two layups by Mike Farrell, and a 3-pointer by Mick Kuberka made it 44-39.

American rallied to tie it, but Ben Saxton answered with another 3-pointer to give Lafayette the lead again. Burke added a fadeaway jumper with 2:40 left to make it a five-point lead.

Lafayette continues a four-game road swing Saturday, Jan. 19 at Army with a 3:15 p.m. tip-off.