BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – George Washington men’s basketball hit 11-of-17 three-pointers, paced by junior Lasan Kromah’s five triples and game- and season-high 21 points, and dominated host Bowling Green in the second half en route to a 77-56 victory in the Progressive CBE Classic at Stroh Center on Wednesday night.
GW improves to 4-1 for the second time in the last three seasons after three consecutive victories and an unofficial tournament title in the Classic’s BGSU Subregional.
Kromah buried 5-of-6 three-pointers and finished 8-of-12 from the floor en route to 21 points and added a game-high eight rebounds. GW shot a season-best 61 percent overall and nearly 65 percent from behind the arc.
The 64.7 effort from three-point range was the Colonials’ best since making 10-of-12 triples in a 90-62 win against St. Bonaventure in February 2009, while the 61.2 percent on field goals was the highest since shooting 63.8 percent at Duquesne in January 2009.
Kromah was the catalyst to the Colonials’ big second-half rally after they clung to a slim 35-34 lead at halftime. He nailed three triples in the opening 2:50 of the period to ignite an 11-0 run that gave GW a double-digit lead, 46-34, it wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the night.
The Colonials’ defense also clamped down as Kromah began to heat up in the second half. BGSU’s (3-2) Scott Thomas, who scored 15 first-half points, was held scoreless over the final 20 minutes and the Falcons shot just 29 percent in the second half in their first loss in four games at the new Stroh Center.
Kromah added his fourth 3-pointer of the half at the 15:30 mark to cap a momentum-swinging 16-2 run.
Bowling Green’s Jehvon Clarke knocked down a three and Cameron Black converted in the paint to close to 51-41 with 14:31, but that’s as close as the Falcons would get.
Sophomore Nemanja Mikic connected on one of his three 3-pointers to jumpstart an 18-4 spurt over the next six minutes for the largest lead of the contest at 69-45 with 8:06 to play.
The Colonials cruised from there, with junior David Pellom punctuating the third straight victory with a highlight-reel tomahawk dunk on GW’s final possession.
Senior guard Tony Taylor finished with just six points, but handed out a game- and season-high nine assists and was named Most Valuable Player of the subregional. He averaged 13 points and six assists over the three games.
Senior Aaron Ware hit all six of his field-goal attempts and went 2-of-2 at the foul line to add 14 points in 21 minutes off the bench. Ware reached double figures in all three games of the subregional, averaging 13 points in 23.7 minutes, to earn All-Tournament Team honors.
Graduate student Jabari Edwards set a new career-high with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting and 3-of-3 at the charity stripe.
The Colonials hit their first five 3-pointers and Ware made his first three shots and a pair of free throws to run out to a 28-23 lead. Taylor then found Edwards for one of his five first-half assists on a conventional three-point play to give GW its largest lead of the half at 33-25 with 4:05 left in the period.
Thomas netted seven of his 15 first-half points during a 9-0 run that gave the Falcons a brief 34-33 edge with 46 seconds to play. However, Bynes answered with a foul-line jumper on the next possession to give the Colonials a 35-34 advantage at halftime.
GW returns home to the district on Thanksgiving Day and will have eight days to prepare for a showdown with the Big XII Conference’s Kansas State Wildcats on Thursday, Dec. 1. The game will start at 8 p.m. ET, and will be televised on Fox Sports Kansas City and potentially in the Metro region pending local clearances.
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