Men’s Basketball Falls to Former A-10 Rival Charlotte, 66-65

Tuesday, December 22

Washington, DC

2 p.m.

George Washington University

1-6,0-0Atlantic 10

Charlotte

-43,00 CUSA

Charlotte

George Washington

Men’s Basketball Falls to Former A-10 Rival Charlotte, 66-65

12/22/2020 6:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Former A-10 rivals GW and Charlotte renewed acquaintances Tuesday in Foggy Bottom's Smith Center for a matinee ahead of the holiday break. An extraordinary start got GW out to an early 11-0 lead at the first media timeout and the home squad never trailed in the first half en route to a 33-27 halftime lead. The start was perhaps sparked by first-year Lincoln Ball, who drew his first starting nod as a collegian.

The college basketball world got another dandy of a game to watch as for the fourth straight game GW found itself in a one-possession game in the closing minute. Alas, this one went the same way as the last three for the Foggy Bottom faithful, as the Buff and Blue were unable to get a shot off in the closing seconds trailing by one.

GW was seemingly in strong position to end its losing skid after a Jamison Battle three-pointer -- his fifth of the game -- put the home squad up, 65-62, with a minute and a half to go. This came after Battle's fourth three of the game gave GW a 62-59 lead with just over two minutes remaining. The 49ers wouldn't go down easily, and after a Jordan Shepherd bucket with :55 ticks left, Shepherd gave Charlotte the last lead of the game with :24 seconds to go by hitting both ends of a 1-and-1.

Appropriately for the 1-point affair, the teams were an identical 25-of-52 (.481) in the contest, but while GW made one more three-pointer (seven total), Shepherd's free throws were all the difference.

James Bishop led GW in scoring with 20 -- his sixth game with 20+ points in seven games this season -- while Battle finished with 19. Matt Moyer nearly double-doubled for the second game in a row with 10 points and nine rebounds.

With the non-conference slate now complete, GW resets the record and eyes the all-important A-10 portion of the schedule. First up for the Buff & Blue is a road date with Fordham on Wednesday, December 30th at 1 p.m. live on ESPN+. After falling to the Rams to end last season, GW will look to flip the script and start this A-10 season on the winning side.