Men's Basketball Fends Off UMass, 77-68

Wednesday, February 9

Amherst, MA

7 PM

George Washington University

9-13,5-5Atlantic 10

Massachusetts

10-12,3-7Atlantic 10

George Washington

Massachusetts

James Bishop celebrates a Hunter Dean dunk at UMass

2/9/2022 10:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Colonials beat Minutemen for ninth straight time

AMHERST, Mass. - GW men's basketball put five players in double figures for the first time in nearly two years and led for the final 33 minutes as part of a 77-68 road victory at Massachusetts on Wednesday night. The Colonials have now won six straight in Amherst and nine in a row overall against the Minutemen.

GW, which led by five at the break, had an answer for every UMass run in the second half, never letting the Minutemen push in front after intermission.

The Buff & Blue had a 43-38 cushion at the break thanks to another torrid shooting performance, connecting on 52% from the field in the opening 20. The frame was GW's fourth half of at least 40 points in the last three games as the Colonials finished the day shooting 46.7% from the floor.

GW was unable to create separation out of halftime, but was able to maintain a lead of two to six points before a 6-0 UMass run knotted the game at 57 with 10 minutes left.

After two more ties, it was first-year Brayon Freeman who gave GW the lead for good on a jumper with seven minutes left, lifting the Buff & Blue in front, 63-61. Leading by four with two minutes remaining, James Bishop delivered the dagger with an and-one layup as the Colonials scored the final five points to earn the nine-point victory.

Bishop finished with 24 points, one point shy of his fifth-straight 25-point game, which would have been the first time a Colonial accomplished the feat since Pat Tallent in 1976. Bishop was 8-of-18 from the floor and also connected on 8-of-11 from the stripe.

Brayon Freeman broke out of a recent swoon with 15 points and five assists while Brendan Adams drilled three huge 3-pointers en route to a 13-point effort, his first double-digit showing since December. Joe Bamisile added 11 and Hunter Dean registered his second career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, helping lead GW to a 41-29 edge on the glass.

The Colonials held UMass, the nation's sixth-best 3-point shooting team, to 8-of-27 (29.6%) from beyond the arc. Leading scorer Noah Fernandes was limited to four points on 1-of-11 shooting for the Minutemen.

GW, which is at .500 in league play at the latest point in the season since 2016-17, will now look for a bit of revenge as it stays on the road to take on Dayton on Saturday. Tip from UD Arena is set for 2 p.m.