Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Men's Basketball: George Washington 76 Penn State 66

Tyler Cavanaugh (#34) led GW with 18 points & 10 boards

From our friends at GW Athletics...

GW Men's Hoops Improves to 8-1 with Win Over Penn State

Cavanaugh's 18-point, 10-rebound double-double paces Colonials

On Tuesday night at the Smith Center, GW men's basketball team hosted its first Big 10 opponent since the 1986-87 season and earned its first win at home against the conference since 1977 with a 76-66 win against Penn State.

The Colonials (8-1) largely controlled the game versus the Nittany Lions (5-3) with Tyler Cavanaugh's team-highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds leading the way. Joe McDonald registered 16 points, six boards and three assists against zero turnovers from the point guard position while combining with Cavanaugh to connect on 15-of-18 free throw tries.

Joe McDonald (#22) scored 16 points with 6 rebounds

GW once again won the free throw battle by making more freebies than the opposition attempted, as the Colonials' 21-of-28 (.750) effort from the charity stripe gave them a cushion in the 10-point contest against Penn State's 9-of-16 performance from the line.

Yuta Watanabe (#12) shot 4-7 from beyond the arc

Yuta Watanabe tallied 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three-point range, and grabbed five rebounds, while Paul Jorgensen joined his fellow sophomore in double figures with 11 points in 17 minutes including a pair of threes of his own.

Paul Jorgensen (#3) scored 11 points off the bench

Penn State's Shep Garner led the visitors with a game-high 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting with a 3-of-6 night from deep, but GW held the rest of the Nittany Lions to 18-of-46 from the field and just 4-of-20 from three.

Penn State's Shep Garner (#33) scored a game-high 22 points

The Colonials shot 52 percent from the field to build a 40-33 halftime advantage, and quickly got it to double digits as Cavanaugh scored seven points in the first 1:45 of the second half.

Kevin Larsen (#21) led all players with 5 assists 

GW stretched its lead to 18 when McDonald knocked down a pair of free throws to make it 56-38, and Penn State never truly threatened again. The Nittany Lions cut the deficit to single digits when Brandon Taylor’s 3-pointer made it 71-62 with 4:09 remaining, but Jorgensen responded with a three-ball of his own a minute later to push the lead back to 12.

Alex Mitola (#1) led the Colonials with 2 steals

The win marked another notch in GW's revenge tour after the Colonials lost at Penn State last season. Previously this season GW has defeated then-#6 Virginia and Seton Hall, two teams that the Buff and Blue also fell to on the road in 2014-15.

First Ladies smiling up a storm

Next up for GW is another Big 10 clash at home on Saturday at 4:30 on NBCSN, when DC-product and former Washington Wizards Head Coach Eddie Jordan comes to town at the helm of Rutgers. Last season GW defeated Rutgers in New Jersey.

Nittany Lions' head coach Patrick Chambers

Click here for tonight's box score.