With the Colonials holding a 35-plus point lead against La Salle on Sunday afternoon, a satisfied Smith Center crowd wanted just one more thing from head coach Mike Lonergan: freshman forward Collin Goss.
“Goss, put in Goss,” they chanted until there were just fewer than five minutes left in the game, and Lonergan obliged. Goss, who averaged 2.4 minutes per game Sunday morning, entered to a standing ovation from most of the crowd. They screamed when he corralled a rebound and leaned forward in anticipation when he got the ball on GW’s last possession of the game.
Instead, Goss found graduate student guard Alex Mitola open about 24 feet out above the top of the key, so he passed. When Mitola’s three swished through, putting the game at its final score of 90‒50, and, well, the crowd was happy with that, too.
“For whatever reason this year we haven’t put teams away but today we did,” Lonergan said. “Obviously their record isn’t very good, but that’s a team that beat Dayton. They’re coming off a good win against Saint Bonnies.”
The Colonials built a 52‒21 lead in the first half, and dispatched the Explorers behind 22 points and six rebounds from redshirt junior forward Tyler Cavanaugh and 19 points (on 7-for-7 shooting) and eight rebounds from senior forward Patricio Garino.
Sophomore guard Yuta Watanabe, Mitola and freshman guard Jordan Roland also hit double figures and the Colonials (20‒7, 9‒5 A-10) shot 58 percent while holding La Salle (6‒19, 2‒12 A-10) to 32.2.
“It’s nice to look at a stat sheet where the other team shot 32 percent instead of 50 to 60 percent,” Lonergan said.
The Colonials built an 8‒0 lead early in the first half but allowed La Salle to pull within one point, 10‒9, before charging out again for the remainder of the period. GW was spurred by 10-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc, including a 4-for-4 mark for Garino, the top three-point shooter in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Colonials made 14 threes in the game.
Garino also did a good job on La Salle’s leading scorer Jordan Price, who led his team with 17 points but made only a couple of his buckets with Garino on him. Lonergan said that he thought Price, who had four turnovers, was bothered by Garino’s length. Price was the only Explorer to hit double figures, and La Salle was out-rebounded 43‒21.
“I think everything starts with defense,” Garino said. “We were focused on our scouting report, we were pounding hard on the glass. Our confidence is high right now.”
GW was sloppy with the ball, turning it over 19 times including seven from Garino, but took smart shots when they held on to it. Twenty-one of the Colonials’ 29 buckets came via assists, seven of them from sophomore guard Paul Jorgensen and five from senior guard Joe McDonald. On the last play of the first half, Garino made an extra pass to Watanabe who sank a three to push the Colonials past the half-century mark.
“We passed the ball very well today,” Cavanaugh said. “Paul [Jorgensen] did a great job coming off the bench, seven assists, zero turnovers, and I thought, when we’re moving the ball like that we’re very tough to defend.”
Lonergan said that Jorgensen, because of his penetration and ball-handing, had his best game in over a month even though he only scored two points.
“The thing is trying to get guys to understand you can help in so many different ways,” Lonergan said.
Lonergan was pleased with the team’s effort, even with the game well in hand. At the start of the second half, Watanabe blocked a three-point attempt by La Salle’s Johnnie Shuler, then wound up on the ground at mid-court fighting for the rebound. Roland, who got the entire bench to its feet when he hit a three-ball to reach double figures late in the game, also hit the floor fighting for a loose ball.
“Sometimes we don’t do that until we’re down, you know, down nine fighting for our lives. So to see our guys play with energy even up 30 to 40, that’s something I’ve been trying to get them to do all year,” Lonergan said.
Ever-coaching, Lonergan stomped his feet after turnovers or bad shots until the very end of the game. At the end of the first half he darted across the court, making his way from referee to referee to argue that Explorers forward Tony Washington hadn’t gotten his shot off in time to count.
Even a few players chuckled as Lonergan made his case – Washington’s shot ultimately did not count but, if it had, GW would still have been up by 29.
Given the blowout, the Colonials got to rest their starters more than usual. Garino led all GW players with 26 minutes, and all active players got at least five minutes of court time.
Beating La Salle, a team with an RPI of 231, won’t do much to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee, but the margin of victory may have helped.
The Colonials head back on the road Wednesday for a 7 p.m. matchup at Richmond.
