Men’s basketball (13-10, 4-6 Atlantic 10) dropped its third straight conference game to the St. Joseph’s Hawks (15-8, 7-3 A-10) in a 76-73 loss in Philadelphia.
The game marked yet another close conference loss for the Revolutionaries, their fifth in the last six games, creating an uphill battle to secure a top-four seed in the A-10 tournament. Senior forward Rafael Castro, the Revs’ leading scorer who ranks third in the conference in rebounding, missed his second straight game with a foot injury, forcing the Revs to compensate for his absence collectively.
Senior forward Luke Hunger once again took the bulk of Castro’s minutes in the front court, recording 11 points and nine rebounds in 31 minutes of action — his most on the season.
Junior guard Trey Autry led the Revs in scoring, finishing with 15 points and three assists on 4-for-10 shooting from deep, followed by redshirt junior forward Garrett Johnson, who finished with 13 points and five rebounds. Junior guard Jean Aranguren added an all-around performance with 11 points, a season-high nine rebounds, four assists and three steals in one of his most efficient nights of the year.
Coming off the bench, senior guard Tre Dinkins finished with nine points and four assists in 20 minutes of play. Dinkins, who has only made one start on the season, fully morphed into his role as the Revs sixth man and spark plug from deep, nailing two crucial three-pointers from way beyond the arc late in GW’s comeback effort.
Despite multiple role players stepping up without Castro, the shooting woes from Saturday’s home loss to Fordham continued. The Revs shot a subpar 36% from the field, heaving a season-high 45 three-pointers on the night and only converting one-third of them.
Due to a solid rebounding effort from Hunger and Aranguren, the Revs managed to out-rebound the Hawks 38-30, securing an impressive 18 offensive rebounds. Turnovers and free throws, a usual culprit in losses this season, were not an issue for the Revs on the night. Not only did they shoot a respectable 10-of-14 from the line, but they also won the turnover battle 15-14.
The game opened with both teams trading baskets, the Revs trailing 11-10 in the first few minutes. The Hawks soared to a 16-6 run over the next 6:55, with sophomore guard Jaiden Glover-Toscano controlling the pace with multiple three-pointers and possessions leading to points. St. Joe’s used the momentum to build a 33-19 lead with 3:15 remaining in the half, their largest of the night.
GW responded with a noble effort to cut the lead, closing the half on an 8-0 run in the final 2:22, capped off by an Autry three-pointer in the Revs’ final possession to cut the lead to five going into the break.
The Revs piled on the late half run with a 7-0 start to the second half with five straight points from Johnson before a feed to Hunger gave the Revs a 37-35 lead with 17:38 to play, their first lead since the opening minutes. The Revs continued to lead throughout the beginning of the second half, as a free throw from Aranguren gave the Revs a five-point lead with 13:38 left in the game.
St. Joe’s reclaimed the lead minutes later on their way to a 15-3 run and a 58-51 advantage with 9:19 remaining, their largest since the first half. The Revs quickly replied with a layup from Johnson, followed by an eleven-foot jumpshot from Hunger to cut the lead back to three.
The Hawks once again scored six straight to extend the lead back to nine before Autry answered with a three-pointer with just under five minutes left. Glover-Toscano hit a three of his own on the other end, but another response from deep by Aranguren kept the game within reach for the Revs.
After a pair of free throws from Hawks senior guard Derek Simpson extended the lead to 69-61, Johnson and Autry hit three-pointers on consecutive possessions, narrowing the lead to 69-67 with two minutes left. Graduate student center Justice Ajogbor extended the lead to four once again on the ensuing possession, but an NBA-range three-pointer from Dinkins forced the Hawks to call a timeout ahead 71-70 with 1:11 remaining.
Following a St. Joe’s miss and turnover by the Revs on the ensuing possession, the Hawks had the ball still up one with just 45 seconds remaining. The Revs maintained good team defense as the shot clock wound down, but Simpson smartly used a rip-through move behind the three-point line to force contact and a shooting foul on Benjamin, causing an uproar from the Revs’ bench. Head Coach Chris Caputo was irate with the officials, as Simpson hit all three free throws to extend the lead to two possessions.
Glover-Toscano sank two additional free throws following a miss by Dinkins, finishing a 23-point night with five three-pointers on only nine shot attempts to put the Hawks up by six. Dinkins raced down the court with seconds left, banking in a shot from near halfcourt with 4.3 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 76-73.
Following Caputo’s final timeout, the Revs managed to swarm the inbounder, forcing a jumpball with 2.3 seconds left. Unfortunately for GW, the Hawks had the possession arrow and bled the rest of the clock out with a lob across half-court, securing St. Joseph’s fourth straight victory against the Revs, a streak dating back to the 2022-23 season.
The Revs will look to end their skid as they head across the state to Pittsburgh to face A-10 tournament hosts Duquesne on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. It will be a homecoming matchup for Dinkins, who transferred from the Dukes last spring.
