The hype surrounding the GW men’s basketball team this year says the Colonials are going to put up big numbers on offense.
But in GW’s season opener Friday before 5,121 at the Smith Center, it was defense that carried the day as the Colonials (1-0) earned a 71-59 victory over George Mason University.
“We played great defense and that’s going to get better, and that’s always been the trademark of my teams,” GW head coach Tom Penders said after his first win with the program. “They’ve picked right up on the defense, they love to play that way, they enjoy it.”
GW hounded George Mason (0-1) into committing 30 turnovers in the game – 16 of them coming on GW steals – while GW’s offense shot only 37 percent from the field and 28 percent from behind the three-point line.
“When you can shoot 37 percent and win by 12 points that shows you’re doing a lot of other things well,” Penders said.
After leading by as many as 17 points early in the second half, GW allowed George Mason to go on a 23-3 run to take a 49-46 lead with 8:55 to play.
GW came back to tie the score at 49 before falling behind again 52-49. At that point, Shawnta Rogers led a 16-0 run to give GW a 65-52 lead with just under three minutes left.
“I felt I had to step it up, being a senior, and do what I had to do to win,” Rogers said.
The run started when sophomore guard Roey Eyal drove the right side with surprising ease, was fouled and made both a layup and the ensuing free throw to tie the game. Rogers then hit a three from the right arc to give GW a lead, which senior Yegor Mescheriakov followed with a three of his own.
Half a minute later, Eyal fed Rogers in transition as the 5-4 guard beat two Mason players and was fouled while making the basket. He closed out the run with two jump shots to push GW’s lead to 13 points.
“That’s what I expect from that little guy, I really expect him to take games over,” Penders said. “He can do it, and he’s got a big heart. Wait until he really starts getting a feel for what we’re doing.”
Rogers finished the game with a team-high 18 points after a first half in which he made just three shots and missed all five of his three-point attempts. Rogers came back in the second half after recovering from a mild concussion he suffered in an accidental run-in with Mason guard Jason Miskiri with six minutes left in the first half.
“The difference tonight was Shawnta Rogers,” George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga said. “When he was out of the game, our pressure defense was more effective. When he was in the game, they turned it over some, but not as much.”
Penders attributed some of George Mason’s comeback in the final 20 minutes to the fact that his team was worried about Rogers and his condition and commended the Patriots for taking advantage of that.
“It’s hard to hold momentum with your stabilizer out of there, and he obviously took a few minutes to get into the flow of the game when he came back,” Penders said.
GW survived poor shooting performances from Mike King (16 points, 5 for 17) and Mescheriakov (nine points, 3 for 16).
The Colonials had trouble containing 6-7 sophomore George Evans in the second half, as he scored 15 of his game-high 23 points in the half and pulled down 11 rebounds for the game. GW struggled in the post against Evans without the services of 7-0 freshman Albert Roma – who had to sit the game out because of an NCAA violation – and 6-8 sophomore Antxon Iturbe, who is out of the rotation for at least a month after breaking a bone in his left foot last week.
“We didn’t come here thinking maybe we’ve got a chance,” Evans said. “We weren’t thinking they’re Atlantic 10, we’re (Colonial Athletic Association). We came in here thinking we were going to win the game. We just fell a little bit short tonight.”
A little less than eight minutes into the game, it looked like the Colonials were going to pick up where they left off in their two 100-point exhibition performances. A pair of foul shots by King at the 12:38 mark put GW up 16-2.
Mason cut GW’s lead to six points at one point, but GW pushed its lead to 15 by half, 37-22. Senior Seco Camara provided some quality minutes off the bench for GW at the end of the first half, including a three-pointer and a put-back on an offensive rebound.
GW forced 19 of the Patriots’ 30 turnovers in the first half, although GW’s offense had trouble translating its solid defensive play into points.
“I didn’t think (George Mason) was sloppy, I just thought we were trapping and rotating very well,” Penders said. “Some of the passes out of the traps were deflected and went right to us. We just didn’t convert enough of them on the other end.”
