BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Senior Tony Taylor led all players and eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau for his career with 22 points as the George Washington men’s basketball team knocked off Detroit, 86-73, in the Progressive CBE Classic Bowling Green Subregional at the Stroh Center on Monday night.
Taylor went for more than 20 points for the third consecutive game to open the 2011-12 season to pace GW (2-1). He entered the game with 980 career points and reached the 1,000-point milestone with a driving, scooping lay-in with 5:24 left. He is the 43rd Colonials’ player to reach the mark and first since Damian Hollis accomplished the feat during the 2009-10 season.
Taylor made 7-of-8 shots, including all four of his 3-pointers and foul shots, and added a game-high six assists to outduel Detroit’s Ray McCallum, the Horizon League preseason Player of the Year.
GW shot a season-best 55.2 percent for the game and limited Detroit to 39.7 percent, including 32 percent in the first half and 3-of-17 from three-point range for the contest.
Junior Lasan Kromah scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half as the Colonials built a big halftime lead that eventually helped stave off a late rally by the Titans. Kromah chipped in a team-high eight rebounds and five assists, while senior Aaron Ware also finished in double-figures with 13 points in 23 minutes off the bench. Senior Jabari Edwards equaled career-highs with eight points and six blocks in a career-best 33 minutes of action.
Nick Minnerath led UDM (2-2) with 18 points, followed by 14 from Chase Simon and 11 apiece from McCallum and Doug Anderson.
The Colonials shot a torrid 53 percent and buried five 3-pointers in the first half to race out to a 45-28 lead at intermission. Kromah had 14 points and six rebounds and Taylor had eight points and all six of his assists by the break.
GW used a 20-5 run to take a slim four-point lead at the 12:23 mark to a 39-20 advantage with 3:33 left in the half en route to the 17-point cushion at intermission.
Kromah hit his third 3-pointer of the night as GW opened the second half with a 7-0 run for a 52-28 lead that forced UDM to call a 30-second timeout.
Minnerath responded with seven unanswered points to trim the Titans’ deficit to 56-41 with 14:26 remaining, but Taylor answered with a 3-pointer out of a 30-second timeout to halt the brief rally.
That Taylor three ignited a 15-4 spurt that pushed the Colonials to their largest lead of the game at 71-45 with 9:57 to play. Taylor scored eight and junior David Pellom added four of his eight with a pair of dunks during the run.
Detroit applied a full-court press that forced a series of GW turnovers and jumpstarted a furious late rally. McCallum, who shot 4-of-12 from the floor, scored nine of his 12 points during the 26-6 run that pulled the Titans to within six, 77-71, with 3:06 left.
Sophomore Nemanja Mikic, who scored eight points, relieved the pressure with a driving, spinning layup over UDM’s shot-block specialist LaMarcus Lowe on GW”s next possession. Ware then hit a pair of free throws to re-open the Colonials’ double-digit advantage and help clinch the victory over the Titans, who were picked second in the Horizon League preseason poll.
GW will play the second of its three games in three days stretch in the Bowling Green Subregional of the Progressive CBE Classic on Tuesday. The Colonials face the Ohio Valley Conference’s Austin Peay Governors at Stroh Center at 5p.m.
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