George Washington University
23-9, 11-7A10
Saint Louis (A-10 Second Round)
11-21, 5-13A10
GW Men's Hoops Advances to A-10 Quarterfinals
3/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score | Highlights
BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Yuta Watanabe scored 19 points to lead the fifth-seeded George Washington men's basketball team into the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship with a 73-65 win over 13th-seeded Saint Louis in Thursday afternoon's second round action at the Barclays Center.
The Colonials (23-9) will face fourth-seeded Saint Joseph's (24-7) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. with a spot in the tournament's semifinals on the line. The game will be televised on NBC Sports Network.
Watanabe's 19 points came on 7-of-10 shooting, while Tyler Cavanaugh added 13 points and a game-high tying eight rebounds and three steals. Kevin Larsen and Patricio Garino chipped in 10 points apiece to round out the Colonials' double-figure scorers.
Joe McDonald facilitated the offense with a career-high tying 10 assists against just one turnover to go with his nine points. GW forced 17 Saint Louis turnovers, which yielded a 21-9 advantage on points off miscues. The Colonials also made 10 more free throws than the Billikens attempted, as Saint Louis went to the line just six times in the game.
GW drained nine 3-pointers with two apiece from Garino, Larsen and Watanabe.
The Colonials never trailed, taking an early 12-4 lead with Watanabe scoring six of GW's first eight points. Saint Louis (11-21) cut it to three, but the Colonials opened a nine-point lead with 1:15 remaining with another 12-4 spurt before a Milik Yarbrough trey with eight seconds left made it 33-27 at the break.
The Billikens pulled within three twice early in the second half, but back-to-back triples by Larsen and Matt Hart ignited a 10-0 run that gave the Colonials a game-high 13-point cushion, 50-37, with 11:44 to go.
Saint Louis, which hit 10 of 18 threes, managed to cut its deficit to single digits but never got closer than five down the stretch, as a Garino 3-pointer at the 2:58 mark reopened a nine-point lead, and McDonald, Alex Mitola and Cavanaugh combined to make 7-of-10 free throws over the final 90 seconds to seal the win.
