George Washington University
14-3, 3-1 A-10
Massachusetts
8-8, 1-3 A-10
GW Men's Basketball Pulls Away From UMass, 81-70
1/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
AMHERST, Mass. -- On the road at Massachusetts on Tuesday night, the GW men's basketball team improved to 14-3 on the season and 3-1 in A-10 play with its first in-conference road win of the year in an 81-70 victory over the Minutemen.
Tyler Cavanaugh once again led the way for GW with a game-high 26 points, extending his season-long streak of games in double figures in scoring to 17. Cavanaugh led four Colonials with 10+ points on the night as GW also got 17 from Patricio Garino, 13 from Kevin Larsen and 11 from Alex Mitola as GW is now 14-0 on the season when scoring at least 65 points.
In the absence of starting point guard Joe McDonald (eye), Mitola facilitated an offensive attack that assisted on 18-of-22 made field goals, as the grad student dished a game-high seven dimes against zero turnovers.
As has been commonplace for GW this season, the Colonials dominated the free throw battle, easily making more freebies than the opposition attempted. Led by Cavanaugh's 13-of-15 night at the line, GW buried 29-of-34 (.853) from the charity stripe compared to Massachusetts' 15-for-20 effort.
The game started with a tight first half that featured 12 lead changes and six ties before the teams went into the halftime break knotted at 34 apiece. Massachusetts led briefly early in the second half before a Cavanaugh lay-up locked the teams in the game's final tie at 38-38. His lay-up was part of a 12-2 GW surge, which was capped by a Matt Hart three.
Garino would later account for 10 straight GW points, as the senior swingman canned a three-pointer to give GW a 58-49 lead, answered a Minutemen three with another triple to push the Colonial lead back to nine at 61-52, drained two free throws after a UMass bucket and countered a final time with a lay-up after a Massachusetts make to give GW a nine-point lead again at 65-56 with 8:02 to play.
GW's lead swelled to 17 at its largest with 2:39 to play before the Colonials cruised to the final 11-point cushion.
Larsen grabbed a game-high eight boards and fell just two rebounds shy of another double-double as the senior from Denmark entered play leading the A-10 with five double-doubles thus far this season.
Massachusetts (8-8, 1-3 A-10) was led in defeat by the backcourt of Donte Clark (19 points), Trey Davis (13), and Jabarie Hinds (10), while reserve forward Antwan Space also threw in 10 for the Minutemen.
Garino and Mitola each accounted for a trio of threes on a night when GW accumulated eight triples and shot .421 (8-of-19) from behind the arc. Sophomore Paul Jorgensen made his first career start in place of the injured McDonald.
Next for GW is a road clash with preseason conference favorite Dayton on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
Notes
- Mitola's seven assists were the most by a Colonial this season.
- Cavanaugh has scored 20-plus points in three of the last four and is averaging 22.0 points per game in conference play.
- GW's 29 made free throws matched a season high (also Lafayette). The Colonials made their first 14 in a row to start the game.
- GW forced UMass into nine second half turnovers and converted that into a 17-9 advantage in points off turnovers.
- The Colonials reached the 80-point mark for the seventh time this season and under Mike Lonergan, are 24-0 when scoring 80 or more.
- GW out-rebounded its opponent for the fifth straight game with a 32-28 edge and improved to 11-1 when holding an advantage on the glass.
