Men’s Basketball Takes City Championship After Dispatching American

Saturday, December 29

Washington, D.C.

2:00 p.m.

George Washington University

(4-9)

American

(6-5)

OT 1

American

George Washington

Javier Langarica had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds

Photo by: Greg Fiume

Men’s Basketball Takes City Championship After Dispatching American

12/29/2018 5:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Colonials took a 71-67 overtime win Saturday afternoon in Smith Center

WASHINGTON -- The GW men's basketball team was home for the holidays on Saturday afternoon for a matinee against the American Eagles who made the short drive to Foggy Bottom with city bragging rights on the line. Having previously defeated Howard earlier this season, a win for George Washington would bring a 2-0 record against schools within city limits in 2018-19 and official bragging rights in the District with more city wins than any other Division I program in DC against other schools in the Nation's Capital.

Behind career-best efforts from sophomores Justin Mazzulla and Javier Langarica, GW got its holiday wish with a 71-67 overtime victory. The city champs used Langarica's first career double-double with career-highs in points (15), rebounds (12) and blocks (5) to win its non-conference finale and start A-10 play feeling good at 0-0 in the new season. Meanwhile Mazzulla's game continues to blossom as the second-year point guard from Rhode Island dropped in a career-best 19 points, including a pair of critical free throws down the stretch.

In some of GW's best years the team hung its hat on its aggressiveness, with a goal of making more free throws than the opposition attempted. On Saturday, the Colonials got back to that winning formula. The Buff and Blue overcame some struggles from the field by living at the line and knocking down 19 freebies while the Eagles attempted just 16.

None were bigger than Mazzulla's pair in the extra session after American trimmed a GW lead to two points with :12 to go. Mazzulla cooly canned both free throws hitting nothing but net on both to ice the game for the home team. His classmate and backcourt mate Terry Nolan Jr. was equally clutch from the line in OT, as he sandwiched five makes around a Mazzulla tip-in in a 7-0 run that turned a 64-61 American lead with 2:17 to go into a 68-64 GW advantage with :19 to play.

Nolan Jr. made his mark offensively in OT after helping to harass American's Sa'eed Nelson on defense for much of the ballgame. Nelson came in averaging 18.8 points per game, but similar to the success GW enjoyed against Howard's leading gun in the backcourt, RJ Cole, Nelson couldn't get going in the face of GW's D. He had nearly as many turnovers (6) as points (7), while needing 10 shots to net his scoring output. Sam Iorio accounted for a game-high 20 for American, but the Colonials forced 20 Eagles' turnovers to limit any further damage.

The back-and-forth affair produced nine ties and 14 lead changes, befitting of an overtime contest in which neither squad wanted to yield anything to their neighbor. Ultimately it was GW's sophomore class that shined brightest, as next to Langarica, Mazzulla and Nolan Jr., Maceo Jack played an all-around game with 13 points, seven rebounds and a game-high five assists with his parents proudly watching.