Men's Basketball Cooled by Dayton, 83-58

Saturday, January 8

Washington, DC

12 PM

George Washington University

4-9,0-1Atlantic 10

Dayton

9-6,1-1Atlantic 10

Dayton

George Washington

1/8/2022 3:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Bamisile and Freeman combine for 42 points

WASHINGTON - The George Washington men's basketball team brought a two-game winning streak into its conference opener against Dayton on Saturday, having won the final two contests of the non-conference slate in December. However, after a pair of COVID-related delays sandwiched around the university's break for final exams and the holidays, GW hadn't taken the floor as a unit since a 67-58 win against Radford back on December 13th. For the Buff and Blue, the rust showed in a 83-58 defeat at the hands of the Flyers.

Sophomore transfer Joe Bamisile provided some early offense for the home team in downtown D.C., with 12 first-half points on 5-of-10 shooting from the floor. His mates though couldn't get warm, and struggled through a 4-of-20 performance collectively in the opening 20 minutes as Dayton took a 38-23 lead into halftime. The Flyers used a size advantage to outrebound GW 22-12 in the opening stanza, and built their 15-point first half cushion on the strength of a 24-10 edge in points in the paint. The second half didn't change much, as Dayton finished with a 56-22 edge in close.

Bamisile would go on to finish with a game-high and career-high 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting, while first-year point guard Brayon Freeman showed-out with a career-high 17 points, including a career-high five 3-point field goals made in nine attempts, while dropping five assists in his first-ever A-10 contest.

However, Dayton freshman Malachi Smith showed his three-time A-10 Rookie of the Week chops in a game-controlling 13-point, 6-rebound, 6-assist and 3-steal effort. Georgia-transfer Toumani Camara contributed a team-high 14 points to the Dayton cause on 7-of-10 shooting as one of five Flyers to finish with double-digit points.

The sledding doesn't get easier for GW as the squad now heads down I-95 to meet VCU Tuesday. The Rams defeated Dayton in Ohio in both team's A-10 opener on Wednesday. Tip time from the Siegel Center in Richmond is 7pm, live on ESPN+ and MASN2.