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GW Men's Hoops Collars UMBC, 83-60
12/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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WASHINGTON - Junior Patricio Garino scored a season-high 23 points and GW men's basketball set season-highs with 12 steals and eight blocks en route to an 83-60 victory over UMBC at the Charles E. Smith Center on Thursday night.
Garino made 7-of-13 shots and 9-of-11 free throws and added a game-high seven rebounds and four steals to lead GW (4-2) to its third home win in as many tries this season and 18th win in last 19 games at Smith Center. The Colonials also matched their season-low with nine giveaways, posted a season-best 21 takeaways for a 19-2 advantage in points off turnovers, and turned 16 offensive rebounds into a 21-5 edge in second-chance points.
Junior Kevin Larsen chipped in 14 points, including 10 in the first half, along with six rebounds and three assists, while five other Colonials scored at least seven points including eight from junior Kethan Savage and seven points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals from classmate Joe McDonald.
GW started with an alley-oop dunk from the opening tipoff for the second time this season with Savage finding Garino for a 2-0 lead just five seconds into the game. UMBC (0-7) tied the game on the following possession, but Savage put the Colonials ahead for good on their next trip. GW has yet to trail in its three home victories this season.
The Colonials built a double-digit lead at 19-9 on a three pointer by freshman Darian Bryant, then twice took a 13-point cushion on back-to-back three-point trips from Garino and junior Ryan McCoy, who scored his first points at GW via a triple that made it 25-12. The Retrievers closed within 29-23, but the Colonials responded with an 8-0 run capped by another three-point play from Garino for their largest lead of the half at 37-23.
Malcolm Brent kept UMBC in range with a trio of triples in the final 3:29 before halftime, but GW answered with a McDonald three and Kopriva dunk to take a 46-34 lead into the break.
The margin hit single-digits just once more early in the second half before the Colonials put the game out of reach with nine unanswered points and a 15-3 spurt to open a 61-41 cushion with 13:20 remaining. GW allowed just one field goal over a span of 6:23 to aid the game-changing run.
GW's lead peaked at 25 on freshman Yuta Watanabe's first collegiate dunk that made it 81-56 with 2:26 left.
The victory improves the Colonials to 6-3 all-time against the Retrievers, with all six wins coming at the Smith Center by an average of 25.7 points.
GW will participate in the BB&T Classic for the 20th consecutive season when it battles Charlotte on Sunday at the Verizon Center at 2:30 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on MASN, YES, NESN, SportSouth and ESPN3/WatchESPN.
GW Alumni will host a pre-game brunch reception in the Verizon Center's Dewars Club beginning at 12:30 p.m.
Additional reaction from Thursday's victory from Watanabe below:
