Men’s basketball fell to VCU on the road Tuesday night.
The Colonials (4-10, 0-2 A-10) were routed by the Rams (10-4, 3-0 A-10) in a 85-57 blowout. Despite an early 5-2 lead in the opening minutes, GW quickly fell behind and struggled to catch up for the rest of the night.
Junior guard James Bishop led the team with 16 points followed by sophomore guard Joe Bamisile and freshman guard Brayon Freeman with 11 and 10 points respectively.
On the other side of the court, sophomore guard Adrian Baldwin Jr. racked up 16 points while hitting 4-of-5 buckets from deep to stem any chance of a Colonial comeback.
Though the Colonials conceded an early turnover that led to a basket, Bishop struck back on the next two GW possessions, hitting a jumper inside the paint and then sinking a 3-point bucket to give the Colonials a 5-2 lead.
VCU then went on a 13-0 run that left the Colonials scoreless for the next 5:34 seconds of game time. Freeman ended the drought on a jumper with 13:13 left to play in the half but the Rams continued to pile on the score.
After Bamisile hit a 3-pointer to bring the Colonials back within 5 at the 12:10 mark, VCU hit a jumper and a back to back threes to reestablish some distance. The Colonials cobbled together a few baskets before Baldwin hit a wide open three to set off an unfortunate series of events for the Colonials as the half wound down.
Bamisile was called for goaltending at one end, followed by two missed layups by junior forward Hunter Dean and Bamisile, before Bishop turned the ball over inside the Colonials’ half of the court, forcing a shooting foul by Dean. GW continued to turn the ball over, giving up 13 in total through the first half, leading to 13 points off turnovers by the Rams.
The Colonials also shot just 33% from the line compared to the Rams’ 80%. Bishop, a 75.8% shooter from the line, missed both of his free throws with just over two minutes left in the half.
Moments later, Bamisile missed a dunk and then failed to convert on both of his free throws the next possession. But Bamisile finished with a dunk off a fast break to end the half with the Colonials trailing 42-22.
The Rams kept up the pressure in the second half, as senior guard KeShawn Curry swiped the ball from senior guard Amir Harris and finished with an emphatic dunk with 19:06 remaining in the game.
VCU dominated the Colonials near the basket all night, snagging 48 total rebounds compared to GW’s 30 while also racking up 44 points in the paint compared to GW’s 30. Though the Colonials finished with 18 turnovers to the Rams’ 17, VCU was able to capitalize on GW’s lack of ball security, netting 24 points off turnovers while the Colonials scored just 8.
After falling behind by a 29 point deficit with 11:28 remaining and a score of 66-37, the Colonials rallied for a stretch, going on a 16-2 scoring run bolstered by four turnovers by the Rams.
After pulling within 15 points at a score of 68-53, the Rams found their rhythm again. Baldwin sank a three with 3:52 left to play to end the Colonials’ run and kick off a VCU 9-2 scoring run and they never looked back.
GW did not score any field goals for the remaining 4:10 of the game, netting just four free throws before eventually capitulating to a score of 85-57.
The Colonials will return to the Smith Center Monday for a 2 p.m. tipoff against George Mason.
