BOSTON – Freshman guard Joe McDonald led all scorers with 21 points and Isaiah Armwood blocked a career-high eight shots to pace GW men’s basketball to a 72-59 victory over Boston University at Case Gym on Saturday.
George Washington (1-1) trailed for all of 22 seconds after Boston University (0-3) got a layup off the opening tip, but the Colonials responded with 10 straight points and only allowed the Terriers within a possession of the lead two times over the final 35 minutes.
The victory is GW’s 18th in 20 all-time meetings against BU and avenges a 76-67 loss to the Terriers in the 2010 NIT Season Tip-Off in Philadelphia.
McDonald’s impressive showing in just his second collegiate game was powered by 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and an 8-for-8 effort at the foul line, and also featured seven rebounds.
Armwood added six points and game-high 12 rebounds to go with his eight blocks, which marked the most rejections for a GW player since Rob Diggs blocked seven against UMES in December 2006, and were just two shy of Kevin Peter Hall’s program record of 10 set against James Madison in February 1976.
Nine Colonials entered the scoring column in total with seniors Bryan Bynes and Lasan Kromah chipping in nine and eight points, respectively, off the bench.
GW shot nearly 58 percent (15-26) in the first half, including 4-of-7 three pointers, while limiting BU to 30 percent (9-30) to surge to a 37-23 lead at halftime. McDonald netted nine of his 21 in the opening period, while freshman Patricio Garino scored seven of his nine to stake the Colonials to the 14-point advantage.
McDonald added four points within the first minute of the second half to lift GW to its largest lead of the contest at 43-23.
BU went into a full-court press at that point, a strategy that forced the Colonials into 13 second-half turnovers and helped the Terriers trim the margin to single-digits three times over the final 12 minutes.
John Papale tipped in a Maurice Watson, Jr., miss in transition to pull BU within 60-52 of GW with 5:33 to play.
The Colonials wouldn’t allow another basket for more than four minutes and scored eight straight points, highlighted by a thunderous tomahawk jam from Armwood with 1:58 to play, to widen the gap to 68-52 en route to their first victory of the 2012-13 season.
GW finished at 52.2 percent (24-46) from the floor, its best shooting performance since a 55-percent effort in its last road victory at Richmond last Feb. 11, and converted 20-of-22 foul shots.
The Colonials also held the Terriers to 32.4 percent (22-68), their best defensive showing since allowing just 29 percent against UMES in the 2011-12 season opener.
BU was led by Dom Morris’ 14 points, 12 from Papale and 10 from D.J. Irving. The Terriers’ starting backcourt of Irving and Watson, Jr., was hounded into combined 5-for-25 shooting by the Colonials’ defense, specifically McDonald, Garino and Armwood.
GW returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at Notre Dame. Tip-off from Purcell Pavilion is slated for 7:00 p.m., and the game can be viewed live online on ESPN3 and WatchESPN, and heard live on 1050 AM, FederalNewsRadio.com and RaiseHigh.tv.
Leave a Reply