Men’s Basketball Holds on Versus Howard

Friday, December 14

Washington, D.C.

7:00 p.m.

George Washington University

(3-8)

Howard

(6-4)

Team	1	2	F
Howard	22	42	64
George Washington	32	38	70

Photo by: Ethan Stoler | ethanstoler.com

12/14/2018 10:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Terry Nolan Jr. scored 17 points and locked down Howard’s RJ Cole

WASHINGTON -- College basketball was on center stage for a pair of District schools on Friday as the George Washington men's basketball team welcomed crosstown foe Howard to the Charles E. Smith Center in Foggy Bottom. The Bison came in with a 6-3 record including a win against another A-10 school on the road at Massachusetts under its belt. In a game termed a rock fight by GW head coach Maurice Joseph, in which 47 personal fouls were called and the teams combined to take 57 free throws, it was the Colonials who emerged from the battle as the victors, 70-64.

NBA scouts were on hand to see Howard's RJ Cole, who seems to try to pattern his game after James Harden, but they left talking about Terry Nolan Jr. The Baltimore product locked horns with his fellow sophomore in Cole, and got the best of him on both ends. Nolan Jr.'s best work came on the defensive end where he frustrated Howard's leading scorer (20.8 ppg) to 15 on the night, but those 15 points came via 19 shots from the floor. In his 40 minutes of action, Cole had to work in his 4-of-19 performance, while his high-scoring teammates didn't fare any better. For his part, Nolan Jr. dropped 17 points in the contest, in a more efficient 14 shots, including making 4-of-10 from long range. The most crucial three came with :11 seconds to go and GW clinging to a three-point lead. With the shot clock waning, Nolan Jr. canned a deep trey from in front of his bench to double the Colonials' lead and put the game out of reach.

Howard came in averaging 88 points per game, good for 11th in the country, but found itself harassed by the Buff and Blue D all game. Charles Williams trails only Cole as the slightly less-prolific of the high-scoring guard tandem, but he too was flummoxed on Friday. Williams (19.2 ppg) hit double figures with 12, but needed 14 shots to get there. Chad Lott, the third of Howard's Big Three at the guard spot, used nine shots to register his seven points as the three-headed monster combined for just 34 points on 11-of-42 shooting.

As per usual, Justin Mazzulla did yeoman's work on the defensive end, filling Joseph's "ghost stats" scoring sheet with the hustle plays that the box score doesn't account for. Simultaneously, it's Mazzulla's improved feel for the offense that stirs GW's drink. Mazzulla finished with 14 points and four assists, tying Nolan Jr. for team-high honors, while helping DJ Williams go off for his team-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Williams also pulled down eight rebounds in the physical struggle, one shy of Nolan Jr.'s team-high nine boards.

Starting a line-up featuring four sophomores (Mazzulla, Nolan Jr. Maceo Jack and Javier Langarica) in the absence of opening night starters Arnaldo Toro and Armel Potter, Jack joined the double figures party with 10 of his own.

The game wasn't pretty, but to slow the Bison's high-scoring show, it didn't need to be. GW led for much of the game, including a 13-point margin early in the second half, but Howard clawed back to make it a one-possession contest late. Thanks to a clutch driving bucket from Mazzulla at the 1:31 mark, and his pair of free throws with :45 seconds to go, GW was able to withstand back-to-back three-pointers on consecutive trips down the floor by Howard and set the stage for Nolan Jr.'s dagger.

With two games to play in the non-conference schedule before the A-10 season starts anew and everybody is 0-0, GW seeks its first road win of the season at Harvard on Dec. 22 at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. GW's final non-conference home game is on Saturday, December 29 when the Colonials invite the American Eagles across the city for a 2 p.m. tip.