George Washington University Athletics
George Washington University
9-9, 1-4A10
La Salle
10-5, 4-1A10
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| George Washington | 30 | 39 | 69 |
| La Salle | 40 | 39 | 79 |
Men's Basketball Downed on the Road at La Salle, 79-69
1/15/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA -- Playing its second consecutive road game against a team which came in on a winning streak, the GW men's basketball team went on the road to Philadelphia and was dealt a 79-69 defeat on Sunday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena.
After falling behind early and trailing 40-30 at the half, the Colonials made a patented run to narrow the gap in the second half. GW found itself within four near the 12-minute mark in the second half, before an 18-4 La Salle surge put the game out of reach as the Explorers led 67-49 with 6:57 to play. A final push by GW narrowed the final margin to 10, but wasn't enough to keep the visitors from dropping to 9-9 on the season, while the Explorers won their fourth in a row to move to 10-5 and 4-1 in league play.
In his second straight game in double-figures freshman Jair Bolden scored a career- and team-high 16 points for the Colonials on 5-of-7 shooting (3-of-4 3pt. fg). Tyler Cavanaugh and Yuta Watanabe each contributed a baker's dozen of 13 for the GW cause, but La Salle's Jordan Price was too much for GW to overcome. Price finished with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-5 three-point tries, while pulling down a team-high seven boards and dishing a game-high tying five dimes.
GW found the range from three-point territory in defeat as the team connected on 10-of-24 (.417) long balls with seven different Colonials hitting from deep. Unfortunately La Salle was up to the shooting challenge, as the Explorers answered with 11 triples in 17 tries (.647). Behind Price, B.J. Johnson (14 points, 2-of-4 3pt. fg) and Cleon Roberts (13 points, 3-of-3 3pt. fg) were efficient as well.
La Salle, which came in on a three-game winning streak including an 87-75 road win at Rhode Island on Thursday, was also hot from the free throw line and sunk 14-of-15 freebies, outdoing the Colonials at the stripe (13-of-18). La Salle's marksmanship also showed in an overall .614 shooting mark from the field (27-of-44) backed by 20 assists. With the strong shooting showing from both squads, rebound opportunities were at a minimum, but GW did outdo the Explorers at the stripe, 24-18.
The Explorers built a 10-point halftime lead on the strength of 68 percent shooting, with Price knocking down 6-of-7 shots and all three of his attempts from beyond the arc for 15 points. La Salle was able to outscore the Colonials 16-0 in the paint, as GW hit all 10 of its first half field goals on jump shots.
The Colonials responded by coming out of the locker room on a 6-0 run to get within four at 40-36, but La Salle answered with two buckets out of a timeout and never allowed GW within one possession in the second half.
Along with Watanabe's 13 points, the junior from Japan ripped down a game-high eight rebounds while also contributing four assists. Jaren Sina directed GW's offense from the point with five assists against zero turnovers.
GW will try to get back in the win column back at the Smith Center on Wednesday night at 7pm when the Duquesne Dukes come to town.
