Game of the Night
Rhode Island Rams 58, George Washington Colonials 62
The Atlantic 10 seldom disappoints, and Friday afternoon’s matchup between Rhode Island (11-8, 3-3 A 10) and George Washington (15-4, 4-2 A 10) was one of the better games we’ve seen in the conference this season. The Rams had the hot-hand early, running out to a 28-10 lead before the under 8 timeout in the first half. Despite Rhode Island’s hot start, the Colonials would go on to close the half on a 19-6 run and cut their deficit to just 5 at the break.
The game was pretty back-and-forth in the second half, but George Washington slowly began to gain the edge over the Rams. They took their first lead since the score was 2-0 with 6:39 remaining in the second half after a Kevin Larsen lay-up. Rhode Island would get its lead back, but the Colonials were able to grab it once again and hold on for the victory down the stretch thanks to solid free throw shooting.
Rhode Island led for a majority of the game but was unable to pull away late. The Rams were led by Jarvis Garrett with 15 points but also had good contributions from Jared Terrell and Kuran Iverson with 14 and 13 respectively. Rhode Island shot better than George Washington from the floor when they went 22-51 (43.1%), but the Rams lost the battle of the boards 26-39. In addition, they committed 22 fouls on the afternoon.
George Washington was able to get this victory thanks in part to its free throw shooting. The Colonials connected on 25-30 (83.3%) attempts from the free throw line and took down Rhode Island despite shooting just 18-48 (37.5%) from the floor and 1-7 (14.3%) from three. They were led by Tyler Cavanaugh with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Once again, the Colonials find a way to get a win thanks to clutch free throw shooting. This will be a huge asset for this team come March.
Duquesne Dukes 86, George Mason Patriots 75
The Dukes went into Fairfax, Virginia on Friday afternoon and walked away with a solid victory over the Patriots. Duquesne (13-7, 3-4 A 10) was led by Micah Mason’s 23 points and got solid scoring from Derrick Colter and L.G. Gill with 19 and 18 points respectively. Despite the fact that the Patriots pulled down 21 offensive rebounds and hit more field goals overall, Duquesne shot 23-48 (47.9%) from the floor and got to the line very frequently. George Mason (7-13, 1-6 A 10) fouled the Dukes 30 times which led to 28 made free throws. Otis Livingston II led the way in scoring for the Patriots with 17. Though George Mason had 5 players in double figures, it was unable to come away with the victory.
