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Friday, March 15, 2013 12:31 a.m.

Late Massachusetts rally halts GW postseason run in Brooklyn

by Elizabeth Traynor

GW vs UMass at the 2013 A10 Tournament from The GW Hatchet on Vimeo.

Senior forward Dwayne Smith drives against a Massachusetts opponent during Thursday’s game. Viktors Dindzans for The Hatchet

BROOKLYN, N.Y.- It would be easy to overlook tonight’s ending as one stereotypical of GW’s 2012-13 season: lost by a thin margin in the final seconds.

That would be discounting the multiple players who were performing through injury. It would be discounting the thin trickle of blood that ran down freshman forward Patricio Garino’s forearm after a particularly ugly first-half foul. It would be discounting the grimace on freshman guard Kethan Savage’s face as his ankle was taped so he could return to the floor.

It would be discounting that Massachusetts head coach Derek Kellogg called his team “very fortunate” to have escaped with a 77-72 victory in the first round of the A-10 tournament. It would be ignoring the Colonials’ effort Thursday night.

“I think we played really hard. That’s what I love about this team. I think we always come to fight,” freshman guard Joe McDonald said. “We just came up a little short this time.”

The Colonials (13-17) were within three of Massachusetts at halftime, thanks to two key factors of their play. One, rebounding, was somewhat expected. The other, GW’s success at the line, arguably was not.

The team went 13-15 at the line in the first half, an 86.7 percentage that was a marked departure from the lackluster free throw performances in recent games. It was an important improvement for the team, who saw its shooting ability slip a little over the first 20 minutes of play. The Colonials had many chances, but struggled to convert, missing layups and jumpers en route to a 9-34 first-half shooting performance.

Adding to the first-half frustrations was GW’s 0-5 shooting from three, a statistic Massachusetts took advantage of by sinking three treys of their own.

“The second half was much better, our free throw shooting was better, but we were 0-8 from threes,” head coach Mike Lonergan said. “We’ve got to keep that lead.”

Still, over the first 20 minutes of play, neither team’s energy dampened. There were nine ties and five lead changes before the break, with each side battling to maintain an ever-slim lead.

 

Senior forward Isaiah Armwood tries to get a hand in front of Maxie Esho’s shot. Viktors Dindzans for The Hatchet

This fighting mentality was crucial to GW’s performance. Once, twice, thrice it would strike at the basket, earning an 11-6 margin on second-chance points and a 29-16 advantage on the boards.

That tenacity, that follow-through, didn’t quit after the break. The game came down to the wire, and GW toughed it out, ending with a crushing 50-32 rebounding advantage.

“We have pretty good size in there with [senior forward] Isaiah [Armwood], so if the guy has a ball and drives it or something, that’s fine with us,” Lonergan said.

But the shooting struggles haunted the Colonials until the end. They finished the game shooting just 38.8 percent, a 26-67 performance. The team struggled at times against the Minutemen’s press, too, with 18 turnovers over the game.

Further hurting GW was its 0-8 performance from beyond the arc, a crippling statistic given Massachusetts’ seven treys over play. Three of those came from former Colonial recruit Trey Davis, who seemed to nail crucial buckets every time the ball was placed into his hands. Redshirt junior guard Chaz Williams, too, seemed determined to will his team to victory, making crucial driving layups down the stretch.

“[Williams] sort of took over, with his speed. I think we had some tired legs, and just didn’t get back on defense,” Lonergan said. “We made some mistakes, left Trey Davis open for wide-open shots. Those were key plays for us.”

GW hung on through its defense. Crushing Massachusetts on the offensive boards was a key part of the Colonials’ gameplan, and the one-two punch of Armwood and freshman forward Kevin Larsen in the low post proved lethal at times.

The heavy-pressure zone kept Massachusetts from boxing out and it drew costly fouls that saw two Minutemen sit down in the final five minutes, including their-then leading scorer, Terrell Vinson.

“I knew we had to mix our defenses up,” Lonergan said. “Even with the four or five point lead, I knew we were going to have to score more.”

Larsen was one of four players who scored in double digits for GW,  adding 17 points and seven assists. Senior guard Lasan Kromah added 11 points and four assists, while McDonald posted 10 points, three assists and four steals.

Freshman guard Kethan Savage gets his ankle taped early in the second half. Viktors Dindzans for The Hatchet

It was Armwood who was the monster for the Colonials, though. He recorded his ninth double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 assists – but said he wasn’t playing with a chip on his shoulder after being passed over for A-10 awards earlier this week.

“I play like that every game, especially on the boards, so I was playing like that because we wanted to win. We wanted to move on and advance to the next round,” Armwood said. “We didn’t want to come up here and say we came to Brooklyn for fun.”

And so, though it will be easy to look back at this game for everything it was not, it may be more important to examine what it was. It was GW’s first A-10 championship game on a neutral site since 2007. It was a high-stakes, high-pressure environment.

And it was a sign that this program could have a bright future.

“I’m not a good loser. It’s hard to finish the season 13-17, 10-21 last year. Our schedule is going to be really tough next year,” Lonergan said. “I think we’ve got a good nucleus now.”

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Wednesday, March 6, 2013 11:00 p.m.

Colonials hurt chances at A-10 tournament bid with loss at La Salle

by Nick Ong

Senior guard Lasan Kromah looks for an opening against Richmond. Hatchet File Photo by Jordan Emont | Photo Editor

There was no second-half comeback this time.

Earlier this season, down 20 points against La Salle, the Colonials embarked on a 19-4 run that cut the lead to five and gave the Smith Center crowd a reason to hang around.

On Wednesday night – in the final road game of the season – GW wasn’t so persistent. The game finished just as the last against the Explorers ultimately did, with another mark in the Colonials’ loss column. This 84-70 defeat has a heightened impact for the Colonials, with only one conference game remaining and the team’s A-10 championship status still hanging in the balance.

GW must beat Dayton Saturday to make it to Brooklyn.

“It’s just hard to come back,” head coach Mike Lonergan said, “when you’re not making open shots and you’re missing free throws.”

Up 10-9 early in the first half, it appeared GW might be able to hang with the third-ranked-team in the A-10. That wasn’t the case, though.

La Salle turned up the heat, storming ahead on a 19-4 run and leaving the Colonials wondering if they would to make it to playoff basketball. Igniting and bolstering La Salle’s run was the nights’ one man wrecking crew: Explorers’ senior guard Ramon Galloway.

“You try not to let the best player beat you, but he definitely hurt us tonight and had a great game,” Lonergan said.

Galloway finished with a game-high 29 points on 11-17 shooting, putting GW’s defense in fits the entire night.

But for the Colonials, he was just the beginning of their problems, with the inability to find an effective defense proving to be most fatal.

“We played a man-to-man defense to start and we just didn’t guard the three point line well,” Lonergan said. “They were going by us and kicking it for threes and we weren’t doing a good job guarding the threes, so we called a timeout and got out of that.”

Nothing was getting the job done. When GW went to man, La Salle’s guards had no trouble blowing past them to the basket. The easy points led to 61 percent shooting for the Explorers on the game.

When the Colonials switched to a 1-3-1 zone, the Explorers showcased their spot-up shooting. Despite coming in with the game plan of limiting La Salle’s long-range attempts, GW just simply left too much space for the lethal shooters.

At the end of the half, the Explorers had made 10 three pointers – compared to only one for GW – and would go on to record 12 treys for the game. Trying to get a head start on a much-needed comeback, GW began to claw away at La Salle’s lead over the end of the first. A jumper here and a lay-up there gave the team some momentum, but a Galloway drive or outside three constantly put another speed bump in its run.

With one final possession left in the first, the lead was down to eight, but a déjà vu floater by La Salle guard Tyreek Dyren put the margin back up to double digits.

“They were playing for the last shot and their guy fumbled the ball and I thought one of our guys could’ve dove for the ball,” Lonergan said. “But they just stood there and he picked it up and hit a shot at the buzzer. So it was a big momentum killer.”

In the second half, GW just couldn’t get the lead below double digits, accomplishing nothing more than trading baskets with the Explorers. The team certainly had its chances, able to get the ball inside, but blown lay-ups and turnovers led to the eventual 84-70 loss.

One bright spot in the game was GW’s performance on the glass, outrebounding La Salle 28-17, but that was expected with the small four-guard line-up that the Explorers like to suit up. And the Colonials again struggled at the free throw line, going 5-10 in the game and failing to get to the free throw line in the first half.

Senior forward Isaiah Armwood used his height advantage inside to lead the team with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Also scoring in double-digits was freshman guard Kethan Savage, who used a strong first half to put up 12 points, and senior guard Lasan Kromah, who made the lone three-pointer for GW and finished with 15 points.

This loss certainly increases the difficulty of the Colonials making it to the A-10 tournament, but their fate is still in their hands.

“We gotta win Saturday.  It’s like a one game season,” Lonergan said. “I guess Duquesne was winning, but then lost in overtime, so we didn’t get any help there, so basically we’ve gotta beat Dayton.”

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Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013 10:12 p.m.

Colonials see 14-point lead unravel in loss at Richmond

by Elizabeth Traynor

Freshman forward Patricio Garino attempts to lay it in against Richmond. Jordan Emont | Photo Editor

RICHMOND- In the end, what proved to be the Colonials’ undoing in their 73-63 loss was momentum.

GW seemed to have a lot of it at the beginning of the first, exploding out with a double-digit lead. But as the buzzer sounded on the first 20 minutes of play, it was a deflated lineup that exited the court.

In a pair of Richmond free throws, the second shot banked off the glass. The Spiders quickly recovered, stealing it and sinking a three-pointer that brought them within one. Seconds later, another Spiders free throw sent the teams into the locker room tied at 36.

GW’s momentum was soundly shaken, especially in a streaky game that saw 54 fouls stop the clock.

“We had some huge momentum plays we gave them. I thought we’d regroup at halftime,” head coach Mike Lonergan said. “It’s frustrating. The game was called very tightly.”

At first, the story of the first half seemed to be GW’s offense, which was firing on all cylinders to open the game. Holding Richmond without a field goal for over eight minutes, the Colonials (12-14, 6-7) jumped out to a 21-7 lead early in the half.

Trying to inject some life into his team, Spiders head coach Chris Mooney went berserk on the sidelines, and was promptly handed a technical foul. The strategy worked- Richmond went on a 13-4 run, completely closing the gap by the halftime buzzer.

“I don’t know if those things are accurate or not,” Mooney said. “I was more upset with how we were playing, and thought we weren’t energized. I thought we needed to be more so.”

Further hurting GW, and helping the Spiders claw back into the game, were the 29 total first-half fouls. Seven of those came in a row against the Colonials, giving Richmond a significant edge.

The Colonials could only shoot 65.5 percent from the line, further helping the Spiders climb out of their hole. And all of GW’s starters were saddled with two fouls over the course of the first.

It took freshman guard Joe McDonald and freshman forward Patricio Garino out of the game for significant stretches of time, disrupting the Colonials’ already-depleted offensive flow. Richmond took advantage of the adjustment, spreading GW’s offense out and holding many of its usual shooters quiet.

“We’ve got a guy, [senior guard] Lasan Kromah, that we need to step up. And I don’t know what was wrong with him tonight, but he had seven turnovers and that’s hard to overcome,” Lonergan said. “Right now he’s our backup point guard.”

Out of the break, it was more of the same. The Colonials exploded out on a 10-3 run, gaining a clear advantage, until the fouls started to rack up. Garino and McDonald were saddled with their third, then fourth. Garino fouled out. With 13 seconds left, so did McDonald.

And the Spiders slowly closed the gap.

It all began to unravel. Richmond continued to capitalize on the fouls. The Colonials attempted shots that were too flashy for a tight game. And the Spiders sunk three consecutive treys, tying it and then pulling ahead. Again, GW struggled to defend the perimeter, Richmond sinking eight throughout the game. The Colonials made one.

“It’s their whole game. But when you’re struggling to guard them off the dribble, and you’re trying to hide some guys defensively, you have to play a little more zone,” Lonergan said. “Some guys just didn’t have any energy. We gave up too many open looks, that’s for sure.”

The momentum was on the Spiders’ side. And they converted it, finding a way around GW, taking their defenders to the rim and crashing the paint when they weren’t draining long outside shots.

Richmond shot 40.4 percent on the game, which belies its final advantage. Though GW’s final shooting percentage was higher – 53.7 – , the Spiders used their edge in free throws and treys to pull away.

Senior guard Lasan Kromah looks for an opening Wednesday night. Jordan Emont | Photo Editor

“Give them credit. They’re a good shooting team. We couldn’t guard them off the dribble, we had to play a little too much 1-3-1,” Lonergan said. “And they missed a couple and then they got hot and hit a couple.”

Once the lead began to slip, so, too did the rest of GW’s play. Against a Richmond team that slowly ramped up its pressure and intensity over the game, the Colonials turned it over 22 times. They were slips that Richmond turned into 19 points.

Along with Kromah, many of the upperclassmen couldn’t inject life into Wednesday’s game. The bench tallied just 14 points, and against the worst rebounding team in the league, GW got just a 31-28 advantage on the boards.

“There was a period where it was rough to get a feel for the game, to get into a rhythm,” freshman forward Kevin Larsen said. “But we shouldn’t be fouling like that. It was dumb fouls on our part.”

Larsen continued to be a bright spot for the Colonials, adding a career-high 16 points and five boards. Freshman guard Kethan Savage was next, with 12 points, followed by senior forward Isaiah Armwood, with eight points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Still, it came down to momentum. And losing the 14-point edge, watching a lead evaporate, and seeing starting player after starting player hit the bench in foul trouble shook the Colonials’ confidence.

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Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 12:06 p.m.

Bryan Bynes to miss rest of season with right leg injury

by Elizabeth Traynor

Senior guard Bryan Bynes holds onto the ball before passing to junior forward Nemanja Mikic at Boston earlier this season. Hatchet file photo by Elizabeth Traynor

Updated 1:38 p.m.

Senior guard Bryan Bynes will miss the rest of the season after fracturing his right tibial plateau against Fordham Wednesday night.

Bynes sat for the entire second half of the game, after scoring five points in 10 minutes in the first half of play. An MRI on Thursday revealed the extent of the injury.

Bynes’ injury further depletes the Colonials’ offensive rotation, which already lost senior forward David Pellom this season. It also forces freshman guard Joe McDonald to shoulder much of the load at the point guard position, with only senior guard Lasan Kromah and freshman guard Kethan Savage as backups. It’s a significant loss for a team that has struggled with ball control and against heavy pressure this season, impacting its ability to establish a solid offensive presence.

“This is really an unfortunate situation for Bryan, and is not the way our coaches and teammates wanted his senior season to end,” head coach Mike Lonergan said in a release. ”Bryan had really stepped up his contributions in Atlantic 10 play, and now we’re going to need other players to step up in his place to help us reach our goal of playing for the A-10 championship in Brooklyn next month.”

Over A-10 action, Bynes averaged 5.6 points per game and a 2.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. This likely marks the end of Bynes’ career as a Colonial, as the senior does not have extra eligibility. As a junior, he was briefly sidelined with a left shoulder injury, but returned after missing two games to compete throughout the rest of the season.

The loss of Bynes also means that another veteran player will be relegated to GW’s bench for the rest of the season. As he suits up a relatively young team, Lonergan has often called for his upperclassmen to step up as leaders on and off the court. Bynes’ injury subtracts another veteran, along with Pellom, from the Colonial roster.

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Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013 9:56 p.m.

Colonials open Atlantic 10 play with win over defending champs

by Elizabeth Traynor

Senior guard Lasan Kromah releases a free throw during a game against Rugters earlier this season. Hatchet File Photo by Priya Anand | Hatchet Staff Photographer

The road to the Atlantic 10 title, naturally, goes through the defending champions.

And while it was a markedly different St. Bonaventure squad that took the floor Wednesday night – missing last season’s offensive firepower Andrew Nicholson, now competing for the Orlando Magic – opening league play by toppling last year’s tournament champions 78-59 was a valuable victory for the Colonials (7-7, 1-0).

It was made a little sweeter, too, with the knowledge that it was a rematch of last year’s A-10 opener, when the Bonnies defeated GW.

“It feels good. To get to sit here and be number one in the league for a few days. It’s good that we came out here with intensity,” senior guard Lasan Kromah said. “We really have a good stepping stone going into A-10 play.”

The story of the Colonials’ first half was their offense, a dizzying series of dominant plays, all highlight-reel worthy, flowing down the court. Freshman forward Patricio Garino nabbed two steals in a row, running it back down the court for easy Colonial buckets. Kromah tirelessly drove into the paint, once tipping in a neat finger roll that frustrated the double team he left in his wake.

The team shot 65.5 percent on the half, including 44 percent from three that saw junior forward Nemanja Mikic sink two, and Garino and fellow freshman Kethan Savage add one apiece.  The production would continue into the second, the team ending with a 57.1 total field goal percentage on the game.

It was an all-around solid Colonial performance, their bench tacking 34 points onto the final score. And it was a game that showed GW’s ability to learn and grow as a unit.

“Kansas State came in, had 24 offensive rebounds. We went to Rutgers and outrebounded them,” Lonergan said. “This team really learned from each [nonconference] game.”

The beginning of the night saw an unusual starting lineup for the Colonials: four freshman, including forward Kevin Larsen, guard Joe McDonald, Garino and Savage, join senior forward Isaiah Armwood to begin play.

That starting five gelled well. Armwood posted a team-high 14 rebounds, five blocks and 11 points. Savage and Garino, meanwhile, each contributed 12 points. Kromah came off the bench to add 14.

Though he felt nervous before his first start, Savage said, the rest of the team focused on building him up before the initial whistle.

“It felt great to come out here and make that transition from high school to college. It was a long time coming,” Savage said. “I felt good coming out here and being able to play the way I did.”

Potent, too, was GW’s defense against the Bonnies. Adjustments kept St. Bonaventure guessing, and the Colonials’ approach fresh, throughout the night. The Bonnies shot an even 39 percent Wednesday night, and managed only six assists with their struggling offensive front.

St. Bonaventure’s frustrations were on clear display as the game progressed. Shot clock violations mounted, passes were too hard and volleyed out of bounds, and a particularly hard foul on Garino saddled the Bonnies with a technical.

“It was a physical team. We just had to come together, keep our composure, keep running our stuff,” Kromah said.

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Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012 3:14 p.m.

Armwood explosive in the post to lift GW to victory over Manhattan

by Elizabeth Traynor

VERIZON CENTER- GW’s most challenging opponent so far this season hasn’t been an opponent at all, but rather a combination of two aspects of play: the other team’s defense and the Colonials’ stagnant shooting.

It’s been a frustrating one-two punch that’s forced the team to battle to even remain in a game mentally. And Sunday, once again, an opponent came out in a full-court press against the Colonials, Manhattan trying to halt GW’s transition play with the approach that’s caused it to stumble of late.

Basketball, Isaiah Armwood, BB&T Classic

Senior forward Isaiah Armwood shoots a layup between the Manhattan defenders at the 18th annual BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center on Sunday afternoon. Jordan Emont | Photo Editor

This time, though, GW (4-3) showed that its best response to a tough press is with a challenging defense of its own, taking a 67-55 victory over Manhattan in the annual BB&T Classic.

“They’re going to press us and they’re going to zone us, with the way we shoot the ball. So we’ve just got to keep getting better in practice and we’ve got to keep working on our ball handlers,” Lonergan said.

The Colonials struggled to break through the press and establish a solid offensive presence Sunday. In the first half, the team had 12 turnovers, struggled to even get shots off and couldn’t get any second-chance points, a sign of limited production in the paint. In the second, the team turned it over 11 more times, ending the game with 23 total turnovers.

“We really wanted to get the ball inside and go inside-out. It was tough for us getting the ball over halfcourt, obviously,” Lonergan said. “But we were just trying to get touches in the middle of the court with our big guys.”

Contributing to the challenges in the first were GW’s familiar shooting struggles. The team went through stages of stagnant shooting in the first, finding itself in an early five-point hole before roaring back to tie four times. The Colonials took the lead off the strength of two treys late in the first, only to have its momentum sapped when the Jaspers tied it up at the buzzer off of back-to-back threes of their own.

“We just went into the locker room and tried to focus on executing and really playing like we normally do,” senior guard Lasan Kromah said. “We came back in the second half and got our composure and tried to make a run.”

The offense ran into more trouble early in the second half, when freshman point guard Joe McDonald was forced to sit with foul trouble just two minutes into the half. The duty of running the offense fell to senior guard Bryan Bynes and freshman guard Kethan Savage, both of whom are more comfortable at the two slot. A short time later, Savage fouled out.

Bynes, despite being 0-for-5, was able to take over, running the offense for large portions of the second half without a turnover.

“He missed easy shots, but at least he gave us some pretty good ball handling and defense. Joe had major foul trouble and was just out of it today, so I thought it was key that Bryan came in and kept his composure,” Lonergan said.

But the Colonials were able to hang on for the victory, closing the game with a 44.4 shooting percentage and dishing out roughly the same amount of assists on the second as on the first. GW pulled away down the stretch, mainly off the strength of its free throw shooting, which was 82.8 percent on the day.

“Tonight, we were great from the line,” Lonergan said. “To finish the game 24 for 29, free throws are so huge and we made them at BU. Like in all areas of the game, we just have to get more consistent.”

Senior forward Isaiah Armwood was a force in the paint for GW, adding 23 points, nine boards and six blocks. The offense ran through Armwood Sunday afternoon, a sign of his dominance in the paint. Freshman forward Kevin Larsen joined Armwood in the post, adding eight points and seven boards.

His performance was supplemented by Kromah, who had 18 points and four boards and forward Patricio Garino, who had 10 points. Garino drew praise from Lonergan after the game, who said the freshman had a lower ankle injury over the last two weeks and is back to full strength after needing some rest. The team’s production is slowly building off of each other, Lonergan added.

“[Kromah’s] been great. That was four games in a row he shot 50 percent or better from the field. Last year, that wasn’t the case. I’m happy for him, he’s focused on defense, and I think a lot of that is having Patricio and Joe and even Kethan push him for minutes,” Lonergan said. “He’s really responded.”

The Colonials stayed in the game largely based off of their defense, holding Manhattan scoreless for long stretches at a time. GW’s heavy-pressure man-to-man and 1-3-1 defenses slowed the Jaspers’ flow, leaving them unable to execute on the offensive, and the Colonials held Manhattan to just 25 percent shooting on the second. A key was Garino, Lonergan said, who guarded Manhattan’s often-explosive senior guard George Beamon and held him to 3-for-13 shooting.

Overall, the Jaspers shot 33.9 percent on the day. GW’s defense was the true key to the game, adding seven blocks and seven steals, and outrebounding Manhattan 41-27. The discrepancy of the battle on the boards was particularly evident on the defensive, the Colonials pulling down 30 in that category alone.

“The board were even at halftime, it was pretty disappointing,” Lonergan said. “I just said ‘everybody’s got to get in there and rebound.’ I thought our guards helped and Isaiah really controlled the game, and Kevin, with our size.”

The victory pulled GW ahead of a .500 record, a valuable win, Lonergan said, as the team continues through nonconference play and heads into league action.

 

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Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012 5:54 p.m.

Colonials pick up first home with 80-56 blowout of Hofstra

by Elizabeth Traynor

Freshman guard Joe McDonald maneuvers around an opponent in a previous game. Hatchet File Photo by Zach Krahmer | Senior Staff Photographer

Updated 8:39 p.m.

It was an almost dizzying series of plays.

Midway through the second half, senior forward Isaiah Armwood neatly sunk a jumper, and Hofstra took it back down the court. It was almost routine until the Pride missed their layup attempt and freshman forward Kevin Larsen gathered the rebound, zipping it over to freshman forward Kethan Savage. The Fairfax, Va., native, taking the Smith Center court for the first time since GW’s exhibition match, leapt up, slamming it home for a fastbreak dunk.

It was a maneuver that earned Savage a double thumbs-up from Armwood. And it was a fitting encapsulation of GW’s 80-56 victory over Hofstra, one that saw the Colonials (2-2) play a complete game that touched upon every aspect of head coach Mike Lonergan’s preferred game plan.

“I thought we played really hard and we played smart,” Lonergan said.

The most glaring example of GW’s improvement from the loss to Notre Dame game was its offense. After a close first few minutes, where both the Colonials and the Pride struggled to pull away, Hofstra implemented a 2-3 zone, a defensive approach that’s halted GW before this season.

Saturday, however, unlike games before it, GW found its shot. The Colonials exited the first half with its highest first-half total of the season, 38 points, and closed the game shooting 61.8 percent. Getting 52 points in the paint and shooting 50 percent from long-range, it was arguably GW’s most complete offensive effort of the season.

What made the team’s offensive production notable, though, was more than the numbers it produced on the stat sheet. It was also the production that spread across GW’s roster, a heartening sign of improvement in the areas Lonergan’s outlined as his main focus.

“I thought our guys did a really good job executing the game plan,” Lonergan said. “[Senior forward] Isaiah [Armwood] and [freshman forward] Kevin [Larsen] were strong inside.”

The Colonials aren’t a strong shooting team, and it’s long been key for their inside game to be particularly prominent. Armwood posted his first double-double as a Colonial, with 12 points and 10 boards, as well as five blocks. Smith had six points and two rebounds, and Larsen exploded for 14 points, six boards and three assists.

“Kevin, he’s got great hands and he’s a very good passer. He just wasn’t ready for Notre Dame, he’s got to increase his stamina,” Lonergan said. “I think that [Notre Dame] game really helped him, he learned from it.”

The Colonials were able to cut into the heart of Hofstra’s zone, and GW had 26 assists on 34 baskets, a true sign of a young offense clicking. Freshman forward Patricio Garino added nine points and three rebounds, freshman guard Joe McDonald with six assists and six points and senior forward Lasan Kromah added 15 points, three rebounds and three assists.

“Joe had five assists at halftime, Lasan had two. Patricio, at halftime, he had two. Our guards had nine assists the first half,” Lonergan said. “Joe’s been pretty solid all year, he just needed other guys to do a good job sharing the ball and not taking bad shots.”

Defensively, the Colonials took the court Saturday with the sort of energy Lonergan and his staff have been working to implement. Garino exemplified that, hitting the deck while chasing for loose balls and propelling GW to a first-half defensive performance that led to the lowest before-the-break total of any Colonial opponent this season.

GW was able to establish a good tempo on the defensive, and clog the lanes that kept Hofstra’s guard-heavy lineup from meeting with much success. Garino and Kromah in particular were able to attack their opponents in the Colonials’ man system, and GW forced 11 turnovers on the night while keeping the Pride to 31.7 percent shooting and winning the rebound battle 40-27.

“It felt good because we played defense and we outrebounded them and we took good shots,” Lonergan said. “A lot of times we’ve palyed good defense, we just haven’t been able to score.”

The victory was also the Colonials’ first at home, an important confidence boost for a team that will face increasingly tough opponents as the season progresses.

“We’ve got to win these home games. We’ve got to beat the Hoftstras of the world and the Mount Saint Marys,” Lonergan said. “Hopefully we can be much better by the time the A-10 comes around, because those will be tough opponents.”


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Saturday, Nov. 10, 2012 7:34 p.m.

Men’s basketball team falls to Youngstown State in home opener

by Elizabeth Traynor

Freshman forward Kevin Larsen attempts to wrest possession and get a put-back basket against Youngstown State Saturday. Zach Krahmer | Senior Staff Photographer

GW’s home opener started with a roar, senior guard Lasan Kromah taking advantage of a Youngstown State turnover to set senior forward Isaiah Armwood up for a rocking alley-oop, bringing the Smith Center crowd to its feet.

But the game dragged through its closing, the last minute seeing the two teams trot up and down the court for 17 total free throws. It was a fitting ending to a night that saw 50 combined fouls as GW and the Penguins traded blows.

And it was those fouls that would ultimately make a major difference on the game’s outcome, the Colonials unable to capitalize on their time at the charity stripe before falling to Youngstown State 80-73.

“I thought it really hurt us in the first half. [Freshman forward] Patricio’s [Garino] playing great D, and some other guys, and we’re just getting, even in the second half, reaching fouls. For no reason- but I think that’s just a lack of experience,” Lonergan said. “That’s a team that should not be at the foul line 36 times.”

With freshman guard Kethan Savage on the bench – he suffered a concussion in practice this week, and there is no timetable set for his return – it was up to freshman guard Joe McDonald and senior guard Bryan Bynes to take turns running the point and playing off the ball.

At times, rookie jitters got the best of McDonald. It took him until the second half to score, going just 2-for-6 on the game, and he only dished out two assists to the five turnovers he committed. Hampered by foul trouble, too, Lonergan was forced to turn to Bynes on many possessions. Though the senior had a few good moments, forcing a five-second violation near midcourt during GW’s comeback bid in the second, he struggled to establish a solid offensive presence, going just 1-for-9 on the night and missing all five of his free throws.

Lonergan downplayed the team’s backcourt struggles, adding that some of McDonald’s turnovers were born of other members of the team being unprepared for his passes. But when Bynes is struggling, Lonergan added, he needs McDonald to take more shots, rather than try to create plays for his teammates.

“I thought Bryan played hard, he played good D. I mean, he hasn’t hit shots, really, he’s not a shooter,” Lonergan said. “1-for-9’s tough, and 0-for-5 from the foul line, that’s tough. And I thought Joe played hard, he played pretty good D for the most part.”

Perhaps the brightest spot for GW was found in Garino, who established himself as the most skilled Colonial on the court Saturday. Adding 13 points and pulling down a team-high seven boards, Garino supplemented his output with tremendous hustle. The freshman picked up the slack during many plays, running back to halt a fastbreak after a turnover from one of his teammates, and adding a pair of steals and assists to his game.

Senior Isaiah Armwood paced GW’s scoring, adding 18 points and five boards to the stat sheet. No other Colonials broke double-digits, with Kromah, McDonald, and freshman forward Kevin Larsen adding seven apiece for the next-highest points totals.

Freshman guard Joe McDonald maneuvers around a Penguin opponent in Saturday’s game. Zach Krahmer | Senior Staff Photographer

“I thought we came out ready to play, ran our tip play, got a dunk to start the game, get the students in the game,” Lonergan said. “They were smart, the guy’s a good coach, he went to the zone, and the numbers speak for themselves. The poor shooting combined with some really bad turnovers kept us from scoring.”

GW struggled to break through Youngstown State’s zone, Garino agreed, adding that the Colonials had to work to get the ball inside to the paint on many possessions. Turning it over 14 times, and dishing out just nine assists on the night, the Colonials gave up possession often to the Penguins. Adding to the struggles was GW’s losing battle on the boards, dropping the advantage 43-38.

The worse you shoot, Lonergan pointed out, the easier it is for the other team to take away an inside game.

“It was disappointing for me and the rest of the post guys. Our plan was to outrebound them, we talked about it all week, we came out and they outrebounded us,” Armwood said.

Adding to the frustrations was the Penguins’ relative ease at confounding the Colonials’ man-to-man defense. Though the two teams posted similar shooting percentages – 43.9 for Youngstown, 40.4 for GW – the Penguins were able to find greater success from mid- and long-range shots.

“As a team, we’ve got to play better defense,” Armwood said. “We knew they could shoot, we practiced it in practice, we just have to do better as a team and get out there and help our teammates.”

The Penguins sank six treys on the night, managing to make them at key moments when GW was closing in on a one-basket deficit. And the Colonials were unable to guard Youngstown State’s unexpected star, freshman forward Bobby Hain, who was a perfect 6-for-6 at the break and would go on to add 19 points on the night, one of five Penguins to enter double-digits.

GW couldn’t continually, and effectively, apply pressure, getting just three steals and blocks on the night.

“Guys try to make steals, make plays on their own defensive. Try to make great plays and you shouldn’t do that. You should play good team defense,” Lonergan said. “Guys are trying to get steals and do things and we’re not a good enough team when we have those breakdowns, especially with some of the guys out there that are young. It’s veteran players that are trying to go for the home run, and it’s something we keep emphasizing we have to do a better job on, that we’ve got to get some guys in the lineup that are playing some more fundamentally sound basketball.”

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Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012 12:11 p.m.

Colonials close Italian competition with a victory

by Elizabeth Traynor
Men Basketball, Isaiah Armwood, Practice

Men’s basketball forward Isaiah Armwood executes a lay-up drill during the men’s basketball team’s open practice last Tuesday in the Smith Center. Elizabeth Traynor | Hatchet Staff Photographer

GW wrapped its Italian tour with a victory over Oleggio’s Nazionale C team yesterday, finishing with a 93-58 win.

The Oleggio team, nicknamed the Magic, competes in Italy’s fifth division. Last summer, they lost to eventual NCAA Sweet Sixteen team Iowa State by 41 points.

The Colonials have been playing through heavy heat and little air conditioning in Italy, which forced freshman guard Joe McDonald to leave the team’s last game against Lega Due Fortitudo Bologna. But McDonald returned for Friday’s game, adding ten points and serving as the driving force behind many Colonial offensive salvos.

Senior forward Isaiah Armwood controlled the first half of play, tallying 14 of his eventual 16 points, including a “soaring tip dunk that helped ignite a game-changing run,” according to a University release. The Magic were within a point before a 17-6 run gave GW a 47-35 advantage at the break.

With just two minutes left to play in the third quarter, Oleggio returned to close within five points. But the Colonials embarked on another scoring run, this time pulling out to a 13-2 advantage to close the quarter with a sizable lead. From there, the game was solidly in GW’s hands, with the team outscoring the Magic 26-7 over the final ten minutes of play.

Freshman forward Patricio Garino paced GW with 18 points, followed by Armwood, and then McDonald and freshman forward Paris Maragkos, who each added ten, and senior guard Lasan Kromah and freshman guard Kethan Savage, who each added nine.

The Colonials are spending their last day in Italy today on Lake Como, before departing for an early flight to the District tomorrow.

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Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2012 9:25 a.m.

Colonials take second game of Italian tour

by Elizabeth Traynor
Men Basketball, Isaiah Armwood, Practice

Men’s basketball forward Isaiah Armwood executes a lay-up drill during the men’s basketball team’s open practice Tuesday in the Smith Center. Elizabeth Traynor | Hatchet Staff Photographer

GW won its second game of its Italian tour yesterday, defeating Camp Darby serviceman 97-45.

A University release said the Colonials focused on establishing strong perimeter play, as they did in a drill in practice last week, rather than concentrate solely on their play in the paint, as they did in their first Italian victory over the weekend.

Freshman forward Patricio Garino scored 11 points in the first half, knocking down three treys, that helped push GW to a 39-point lead at the half. In the second part of play, the Colonials maintained solid outside shooting, finishing with nine three-point baskets as a team. That, combined with points scored in transition, the release said, gave GW the 52-point victory.

Garino eventually netted 16 points, followed by fellow freshman Kethan Savage, who added 12, incoming Villanova transfer Isaiah Armwood, who added 11 and freshman guard Joe McDonald, with 11.

The Colonials continue to sightsee and tour Italy before begininning the first of three straight days of competition against Italian teams Wednesday. The University’s athletics blog is providing a daily summary of the team’s time in Italy, as well as a video feed that captures the Colonials on the tour.

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