George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
Oregon State
Men's Basketball Upends Oregon State, 87-79
12/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2010
CORVALLIS, OR - After a nine-day layoff, final exams and a coast-to-coast flight, the George Washington men's basketball team found its shooting touch in the rainy Pacific Northwest. GW shot its way out of a near season-long shooting slump in a big way by hitting 58 percent in the first half and 54.5 percent overall to surprise Oregon State, 87-79, in an Atlantic 10-Pacific 10 match-up Saturday at OSU's venerable Gill Coliseum. It marked just the third time in nine games that the Colonials shot a higher percentage than their opponent.
GW junior guard Tony Taylor led the Colonials with a 19-point, 11-assist double-double. Freshman sharp-shooter Nemanja Mikic poured in 19 points on 6-of-10 bombs from beyond the arc. Dwayne Smith and Bryan Bynes came off the bench to combine for 25 points.
GW's pressure defense forced the Beavers into 20 turnovers, the fourth game this season that GW has forced the opposing team to commit at least 20 miscues. OSU, which entered the game ranked second in the nation with 13 steals a game, managed just two Saturday.
Oregon State (4-6, 0-0 Pac-10) was led by Jared Cunningham's 21 points, 15 from the line. Omari Johnson had a team-high six rebounds but just two points, 10 below his average. The Beavers converted a preposterous 33-of-36 free throws (91.7%) including a single-game school record 15-of-15 by Cunningham.
The Colonials hit 14-of-24 shots in the first half but led by only one, 37-36, at the break. The Beavers kept knawing away at the deficit and got to within one on Roberto Nelson's 3-pointer with 8:26 left to make it 60-59. Taylor followed with five straight points to put GW up, 65-59. GW converted 9-for-15 from the line over the final two minutes to keep the Beavers at bay.
With Saturday's triumph, GW has now won two of its three meetings with the Beavers. It also marked GW's first true road win over a team from a BCS conference since Dec. 8, 2001, when the Colonials defeated Providence in Rhode Island.
GW (4-5, 0-0 A-10) returns to the nation's capital to host East Carolina (7-3) on Wednesday, Dec. 22, at Smith Center. The GW-ECU game will tip at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on 1500 AM and 820 AM, as well as at FederalNewsRadio.com.
