George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
1-Temple
GW Men's Hoops Finishes 22-Win Season With NIT Loss at Temple
3/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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PHILADELPHIA - Juniors Kethan Savage and Kevin Larsen combined for 44 points, including a career-high 25 from Savage, but it wasn't enough as GW men's basketball exited the Postseason NIT with a 90-77 second-round loss at Temple on Sunday.
No. 5 seed GW completes its 2014-15 season with a 22-13 overall record, tying for the seventh-most wins in the program's 101-season history. No. 1 seed Temple (25-10) advances to the NIT quarterfinals to face either Texas A&M or Louisiana Tech.
The 22 victories marks GW's second straight and 13th all-time 20-win season, and gives the Colonials 46 over the past two seasons, the fourth-best two-year span in program history. It also marks the 14th 20-win season of Coach Mike Lonergan's 22-year head coaching career.
Savage went 9-of-16 from the field, including 3-of-5 behind the arc, en route to his career-high 25 points, and he added a game-high three steals and two blocks in 29 minutes off the bench. Larsen made 5-of-10 shots, including a pair of three-point attempts, and 7-of-9 free throws for 19 points along with a team-best seven rebounds and four assists. Freshman Yuta Watanabe made four three-pointers and finished with 15 points.
GW trailed throughout after missing its first five shots and allowing the opening nine points of the game, but warmed up to force Temple to work for its quarterfinal berth. Down 20-5 at one point, the Colonials made half their shots (10-20) over the final 16:27 of the half, including a combined 6-of-12 shooting and 19 first-half points from Larsen (10) and Savage (nine), to pull within 38-30 at the break.
Watanabe scored five quick points out of the locker room and Larsen added a pair of free throws to get GW within a possession of the lead at 40-37 with 17:59 remaining, but that's as close it would get. Jesse Morgan hit his fourth three-pointer of the contest at the 14:50 mark to cap an 11-4 run that reopened Temple's double-digit cushion at 51-41.
The Colonials managed to climb within single-digits five more times, the last at 62-54 on a Larsen three-point play with 9:00 left that made him the 46th member of GW's 1,000 career point club. Devin Coleman scored 10 of his 13 points over the next 5:17 to spark the Owls to a 78-60 advantage with 3:53 to play to dash the Colonials' comeback bid.
Will Cummings led Temple to its sixth win in its last seven games with 21 points, followed by 20 from Morgan, 13 from Coleman and 11 from reserve Josh Brown. Jaylen Bond pitched in eight points and a game-high 15 rebounds to help the Owls to a 38-26 rebounding edge.
The Colonials made at least 10 threes (10-20) for the fifth time in their last eight games and shot 45.5 percent (25-55) from the field, but it wasn't enough to combat the Owls' efficient 14 points off eight takeways, 50 percent shooting (31-62) and 21-of-24 performance at the foul line.
Larsen (1,004 points, 638 rebounds) is now the 15th Colonial ever to post at least 1,000 points and 600 rebounds in his career.
GW is slated to return 11 of its 12 letterwinners from 2014-15 and will welcome transfers Tyler Cavanaugh (Wake Forest) and Matt Hart (Hamilton College) and National Letter of Intent signees Jordan Roland and Colin Goss to its roster for 2015-16. Lone senior John Kopriva finishes his four-year career as GW's all-time leader with 128 games played and the program's 10th Academic All-America nod.
