The Colonials opened their 2015-2016 campaign Saturday night with a 92-47 drubbing of the Gannon Golden Knights (DII) in an exhibition match in which the entire lineup saw substantial minutes.
Behind five separate double-figure performances, a team-high 15 points and six rebounds from sophomore forward Yuta Watanabe and 48 points from its bench, GW cruised to the 45-point victory.
“It was good for all of us to play in front of this environment again and be back at the Smith Center, it’s always good playing here,” senior guard Joe McDonald, who had 12 points, three rebounds and three assists on the night, said.
As expected, McDonald, Watanabe, junior forward Tyler Cavanaugh, senior forward Kevin Larsen and senior guard Patricio Garino took the floor as GW’s starting five. The group came out rolling and quickly put 
With the double-digit lead, head coach Mike Lonergan got his bench involved early in the exhibition. But up against mostly GW second stringers, Gannon immediately stopped the bleeding and embarked on a 10-point run of its own to even the score.
“We were up 10-0 and we were trying a lot of combinations with guys who aren’t normally going to play much,” Lonergan said. “[Gannon] shot something like 47 percent in the first half which was disappointing but second half they only shot 23 percent, so I thought our defense was pretty good.”
While the Colonials’ newer players looked disorganized at times, like during two first-half turnovers by sophomore guard Anthony Swan, the majority seemed to eventually find their rhythm.
Graduate student and Dartmouth transfer guard Alex Mitola looked comfortable dictating play at the one and put up 13 points on the night, including eight points to lead the bench in the first half. Freshman guard Jordan Roland, sophomore guard Paul Jorgensen and junior Matt Hart also looked good offensively off the pine, combining for 29 points in the contest, though Hart struggled to finish the plays he did a good job of creating when he didn’t end up at the free throw line. Hart finished with seven points and went 4-5 at the stripe but was 1-8 from the field.
After the Knights’ mini comeback, GW turned up the heat and never looked back. The Colonials answered with a commanding 17-3 run later in the frame to earn a double-figure cushion, thanks to an aggressive defense that forced 29 Gannon turnovers on the night, while only giving the ball away themselves only eight times.
The defense looked stronger in the second frame, as GW held the Knights to just 17 points in the final half. Rebounding on the night, however, was a toss-up with both sides securing a total of 36 each.
In addition to Watanabe and Mitola, McDonald, Jorgensen and Roland all scored in double-figures. Every Colonial got a bucket with the exception of freshman forward Collin Goss and GW averaged a 47.1 percent clip from the field, but the three-ball only dropped seven times on a combined 24 attempts.
The Colonials also found themselves in some foul trouble in a choppy match where the teams combined for 60 
“There were a lot fouls definitely but we talked about it during timeouts and we still executed so that’s the main thing, and our turnovers were limited so that’s always a plus,” McDonald said.
GW kicks off its regular season schedule Friday Nov. 13 against Lafayette at home.
“We’re a work in progress,” Lonergan said. “I’m glad we have another week to prepare for a very well-coached Lafayette team, but I’m excited about this group, I really think we have a lot of weapons.”
