After surrendering a 14-point first-half lead to Saint Joseph’s, the men’s basketball team surged late and made clutch shots down the stretch to defeat the Hawks 76-71.
Behind a 20-point showing from graduate student Maurice Creek, who humorously carried the blown-up cutout of his face into the postgame press conference, the Colonials would earn their 14th home win of the season.
The win is crucial for GW’s resume as it looks to seal the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007.
It also improves GW’s overall record to 22-7 and keeps the team in contention for the fourth spot in the Atlantic 10 standings, which would give them a double-bye into the tournament’s quarterfinals.
“This is a great team win,” Creek said as he pointed to the large cutout of his face. “Saint Joe’s is a tough team, they have a lot of talent and we knew what we needed to come in here and do and we made plays in the stretch.”
After trailing the Hawks in the game’s first minutes, the Colonials began to find their rhythm on the floor. GW, who started the game 2-for-7 from the field, would use a 9-for-13 shooting stretch to go on a 24-6 run.
The Colonials extended their lead to as many as 14 points with 5:32 left in the half off a three-point field goal by sophomore Joe McDonald from the top of the key.
Those were the last points GW would score in the half.
GW closed out the half missing all eight of its shot attempts, while watching Saint Joseph’s go on a 16-0 run to erase the double-digit lead. The Hawks were led by freshman DeAndre Bembry and senior Langston Galloway, who finished the half with eight and nine points, respectively. Bembry would finish with a game-high 22 points, while Galloway would add only one more in the second half.
The Colonials struggled with take care of the basketball, as seven first half turnovers led to eight points for the Hawks.
“We took some bad shots and our turnovers and bad shots led to some breakouts and dunks for them and layups,” head coach Mike Lonergan said. “And we missed some shots too, so they gained a lot of momentum.”
Lonergan added that despite giving up the late run, he was fortunate that the team was only down two at the half and wasn’t plagued by foul trouble like they had been in games past.
In the second half, the Colonials started out cold, going 3-for-16 from the field to find themselves down nine to the Hawks with 11 minutes left in the ball game. From then on, GW would start to chip away at the SJU lead.
The Colonials rode the hot hands of Creek, McDonald and sophomore Patricio Garino who each scored in double figures in the second half alone. The Colonials finished the half 8-14 from the field, including 5-8 from beyond the arc, behind 20 points from Creek, 18 points from McDonald and 17 points from Garino.
McDonald and Creek each hit four threes in the game, something Lonergan said came as the team was first eager to go inside. Feeding the post cleared up open shots for the Colonials, and for the first time in a long time, they hit them.
A key to GW’s success in the half was its ability to get to the free throw line. The Colonials shot just three free throws in the first half, but in the second, shot an astounding 24 shots from the line, against a Hawks team that ranks third in the country in least number of fouls.
“We’re the third fewest fouling team in America and it changed tonight, so shame on us,” Saint Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli sarcastically said, referring to the questionable calls by the referees. “Shame on us, we fouled, we gave up 24 foul shots in the second half. I’m not sure why we would change in our 29th game, but we did.”
While the Hawks, the worst free-throw shooting team in the conference, missed free throws down the stretch, GW would maintain its second half momentum with 15 points at the charity stripe.
“It doesn’t really show on the stat sheet, but I thought we shot better from the free throw line,” Lonergan said. “Maybe it was just the last eight minutes that we made a lot and they missed a lot. On paper they’re the worst free throw shooting team in the league and we’re second worst, but I thought we made some big ones when we had to down the stretch.”
The Colonials once again found success on the glass. GW outrebounded Saint Joseph’s 39-32, led by a game-high 11 rebound performance by senior Isaiah Armwood. In his final game at the Smith Center, the “Blockness Monster” posted his second straight double-double Wednesday, adding 15 points.
“When our guards rebound like that in the second half, they’re one and done against the 1-3-1, and you know Isaiah’s always gonna get double figure rebounds,” Lonergan said.
Now in a tie for fourth place with Massachusetts in the conference standings, GW’s chances of grabbing a double bye in next week’s conference tournament hinge on two things: a win of their own Saturday against Fordham and a UMass loss to Saint Louis on Sunday.
A win tonight against the Hawks also sets up the situation where a Saint Joseph’s loss to La Salle Sunday, coupled with a GW win, would give the Colonials the fourth seed due to head-to-head tiebreakers.
GW will take the floor against Fordham Saturday at 4:30 p.m. for the regular season finale.
