GW had just been up by five after back-to-back threes from Larsen and Yuta Watanabe. A lifeless game had been given a burst of energy, but if there was anything on the court Saturday afternoon to kill the Colonials’ sudden mojo, it was Terrell, who led the Rams to the 59-55 win.
“It’s really disappointing. You fight all the way to get a five point lead on the road and you miss free throws,” head coach Mike Lonergan said. “If you don’t make your free throws then you really don’t deserve to win.”
Terrell was the Colonials nemesis all day, from the moment he gave Rhode Island a 10-4 lead off two free throws after stealing the ball from Patricio Garino, up to the end of the game when, with a minute and a half to go and the shot clock winding down he intercepted a pass from Joe McDonald who turned over the chance to tie the game at 52. Terrell finished the game leading all scorers with 17 points and had six steals.
Terrell was a new problem, but an old foe reared its ugly head for the Colonials. GW missed four straight down the stretch and went 9-17 from the free throw line. Rhode Island, which entered the game shooting just over 62 percent from the stripe, was nearly perfect at 20-22 for the third best free throw shooting day in team history.
Shots from the stripe proved the death knell after the Colonials mounted a comeback in the second half. They trailed by nine at halftime after committing 14 turnovers. For a while it seemed like the upcoming Super Bowl had a better chance of scoring in the 50s and Rhode Island ended the game with a 22-7 edge in points off turnovers.
“Our turnovers are really ridiculous. To have 14 turnovers at halftime, Patricio [Garino] had five himself. I don’t really understand it, it’s been going on all year,” Lonergan said.
For their part in the low-scoring affair, the Rams missed 13 out of 14 three point shots as they were stifled by GW’s 1-3-1 defense which helped the Colonials chip away and take the lead late in the game, though Lonergan said he felt Rhode Island’s 12 offensive rebounds were too many even with a 35-30 advantage off the boards.
Nick Griffin eventually came up with a loose ball and flung it up the court to Kethan Savage who placed it above the hoop. Out of nowhere, Yuta Watanabe flew onto the scene to dunk it in and pull GW within a possession at 38-35.
Kethan Savage hit a jumper, and then GW took the lead at 39-38 when McDonald found a driving lane along the baseline and hit a layup after about 20 seconds of passing the ball around the perimeter, searching for an opportunity.
“We knew the 1-3-1 would work, they didn’t shoot well from threes but we let them penetrate a little too much,” McDonald said.
But that’s when things went cold. Larsen, who exploited his lack of double-coverage for 15 points, and McDonald, who pulled down a heroic eight rebounds, each went 0-2 from the charity stripe. Rhode Island started penetrating and racking up free throw shots and even a last-minute goaltending call to count a three-point shot from Watanabe couldn’t save the game for GW.
“We kind of gave it away in the first half,” Larsen said. “They played well, give all the credit to them, but we should have won this game.”
The Colonials closed out a stretch when they played four games in nine days. They’ll get a week off, but it doesn’t get any easier at this point with Dayton coming to the Smith Center on Friday.
