Men’s basketball defeated Fordham 88-81 (12-21, 3-15 Atlantic 10) to head to the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship at Capital One Arena Thursday night after a first-round bye.
The team held a steady lead throughout the game, but a 13-1 run by the Rams late in the second half put Fordham up by two. Sophomore guard Trey Autry responded with three straight 3-pointers that brought the crowd to its feet, putting GW back in the driver’s seat and racing towards a win.
“I just happened to be open,” Autry said. “And I have all the confidence in the world, because all my teammates have all the confidence in the world. They watch the game and I miss some pretty open ones, but after every single shot, they’re encouraging me to keep shooting and keep firing.”
This is GW’s first trip to the tournament quarterfinals since 2017 and their first tournament win since 2021.
“I think for us, it’s a very natural progression of where the program needs to go,” Head Coach Chris Caputo said. “And I feel good about that. And I think it’s the most win since ’16 now overall. So I feel good.”
Fordham was GW’s last opponent of the regular season, with the Revs having beat them 81-58 last Wednesday.
Leading the way offensively for the Revs was Autry, who had 23 points on point 8-14 shooting, including 7-13 from deep. Redshirt junior forward Rafael Castro had 17 points and redshirt sophomore Darren Buchanan Jr. added 14 off the bench. Four Revs scored in double-figures.
Autry’s opening 3-ball gave GW a 9-7 lead less than four minutes into the game, which was followed up by a layup from graduate student forward Sean Hansen. Fordham guard Jackie Johnson III responded with a 3-pointer of his own, one of his seven during the game. Buchanan Jr. ended the half with a layup to send GW up 43-35. Buchanan finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds, his first strong performance after being bogged down by injury this season.
“I thought he played with force,” Caputo said. “We needed it against those guys.”
After a back-and-forth start to the second half, a free throw from Buchanan brought GW up 66-53 for their largest lead of the game with just nine minutes left.
With the Revs up 71-64, the tide started to turn in favor of the Rams after graduate student guard Japhet Medor hit a free throw with 6:06 left. This kickstarted a 10-1 run for the Rams, giving them a 74-72 lead with 2:18 to go.
But the Revs did not quit. Out of a timeout, Autry regained the lead for the Revs on his first of three three-pointers in the final two minutes and electrified the GW faithful in attendance. This three-pointer gave the Revs a lead they would not relinquish.
At 1:18, Autry would hit another 3-pointer off an assist from Hansen, bumping the Revs lead to 78-74. After Medor hit a pair of free throws, Autry capped off his three-pointer parade with a dagger with 44 seconds left to increase the Revs lead to five.
With Fordham forced to foul, Buchanan and sophomore guard Jacoi Hutchinson hit key foul shots to send the Revs into the quarterfinals.
The Revs are back in action tomorrow after losing the first two editions of the Revolutionary Rivalry when they take on #2 George Mason, with tipoff set for 5 p.m. from Capital One Arena.
In anticipation of the matchup with George Mason tomorrow, Castro said that having faced them twice already, his team has learned from their first matchups and play their game.
“My first reaction is just learning from the first two losses,” Castro said. “And how does it build off that, staying disciplined and what we believe in and staying true to our principles.”
