After trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half and facing a nine point deficit at halftime, the GW men’s basketball team showcased yet another aspect of their team identity Saturday: resiliency.

Outscoring the Manhattan Jaspers 50-35 in the second half, the Colonials earned their first road victory of the season, 80-74.

GW (3-0) struggled to keep up in the first half with a Manhattan (2-1) team who seemingly had control over every aspect of the game, dictating the pace and keeping the Colonials off balanced.

But GW also failed to help themselves. The Colonials shot just 42.9 percent from the free throw line in the first half – crucial points that would have aided a GW team that shot just 40 percent from the field in the half.

“We got off to kind of a slow start,” head coach Mike Lonergan said. “We shot 6-14 from the free throw line in the first half, which was part of the reason we were down nine points. I give them credit. It was their home opener, they had a great crowd, very good atmosphere for college basketball. So they jumped right on us but we kept our composure and in the second half got back in the game.”

Although down nine at the half, GW stayed positive, knowing that if they had converted their free throws, the deficit would’ve been just four or five points.

“We tried to stay positive,” Lonergan said. “We felt we had to focus and we thought we could get back in the game. We were down nine points, but we knew it was our possession in the first play.”

GW took all but four and a half minutes to comeback against the Jaspers and take the lead – something not even Lonergan expected.

The Colonials were led once again by graduate guard Maurice Creek, who had seven points in the first three minutes of the second half alone. Creek would light up the stat sheet finishing the game with 27 points and five three-point field goals.

Saturday’s defensive strategy entering the game was simple: stop Manhattan senior George Beamon. Before Saturday night’s matchup, Beamon, who was selected to the All-MAAC preseason first team, had been averaging 26 points per game for the Jaspers.

Lonergan approached containing Beamon by throwing different looks at the 6-4 guard/forward throughout the game, starting with a man-to-man defense. But Lonergan said that Beamon’s ability to find a rhythm early on caused him to change his strategy.

“We played man-to-man early,” Lonergan said. “ But when you play a good scorer you can’t let him get off to a good start. Right from the jump-ball he got the ball and hit a jump shot. We were forced to go to a 1-3-1 almost the entire game just so we can kind of keep the ball out of his hands.”

Beamon would finish the game with an impressive 34 points and nine rebounds.

But he would be the only real offensive threat for the Jaspers all night, as no other Manhattan player broke double figures in scoring – something Lonergan viewed as a defensive success for the Colonials, along with drawing the Manhattan frontcourt into early foul trouble.

Senior Isaiah Armwood and sophomore Kevin Larsen were able to capitalize on the early foul trouble of the Manhattan big men and were a big reason for the Colonials outscoring the Jaspers 34-18 in the paint. Armwood would finish with 20 points and eight rebounds while Larsen finished with a double-double at 12 points and 10 boards.

Saturday’s win was not the only Colonial comeback on the floor, as sophomore Patricio Garino returned to the court after missing the first two games of the season with a fractured finger. Outfitted with a finger bandage, Garino, who Lonergan described as appearing “rusty” on the floor,  played 23 minutes going 2-3 from the field. The sophomore guard/forward would finish the night with six points, three blocks, and two rebounds.

But maybe more important than Garino’s contribution to the stat sheet Saturday was his ability to give Lonergan the opportunity to rest his bench. After the game, Lonergan stated that Garino’s minutes kept his team fresh and rested, which helped GW keep up with the high tempo play of the Jaspers.

With a couple days before Tuesday’s home game versus Delaware State (7 p.m.), Lonergan says that along with free throws, team defense will certainly be priority number one for his ballclub.