Men’s basketball (20-11, 9-9 Atlantic 10) defeated Fordham (11-19, 3-14 A-10) 81-58 on Wednesday in their final A-10 game of the season to secure their 20th win of the year.
With the win, the Revolutionaries clinch their most season wins since the 2016-17 season, when they went 20-15, and their first 20-win season under Head Coach Chris Caputo. This victory has secured the Revs a spot in next Thursday’s tournament face-offs, with their seeding still in flux, but GW will have to scoreboard watch to see what seed they finish with as A-10 play closes out on Saturday.
Redshirt junior forward Rafael Castro led the Revs with 16 points in the Big Apple match, notching eight rebounds during the game. Sophomore guard Trey Autry added 14 points, including shooting a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line. Redshirt sophomore forward Darren Buchanan Jr. and graduate student forward Sean Hansen each put up double figures.
The Revs got off to a dominating start, leading from the get-go and never relinquishing their gains. A tip-in from Hansen at the 11:16 mark gave the Revs an 18-9 lead and a minute later, graduate student guard Gerald Drumgoole Jr. put the Revs up 21-9 on a three.
GW continued to dominate the Rams in the first half, getting contributions up and down the lineup. A dunk from Castro for his ninth point of the half put the Revs up 30-17 with 4:14 left, and some more baskets down the stretch gave the Revs a 42-23 lead at the end of 20.
The Revs picked up right where they left off to start the second half, with Hansen putting back up a rebound at the 18:40 mark. At the second media timeout of the half, the Revs held a commanding 59-39 lead.
Castro bumped the Revs’ lead up to 23 points on a free throw with 9:33 left in the game, which kickstarted a 9-2 run that Drumgoole capped with a three. The Revs continued to pour it on, taking a 79-51 into the final media timeout. The teams traded baskets in the final five minutes, but the Revs never relinquished their lead and closed out their ninth win of A-10 play.
With GW not playing on Saturday, the outcomes of the St. Bonaventure vs. Davidson and the Duquesne vs. Saint Louis games will determine what seed the Revs land. And with both St. Bonaventure and Duquesne sitting at 8-9, the Revs can finish no lower than 9th, which would set them up against one of the two aforementioned teams. If the Revs were to secure the 7th seed, they would play the winner of next Wednesday’s 10th-versus-15th-seed match.
