Sunday, December 22, 2019

Men's Basketball: Harvard 88 George Washington 75

Armel Potter (#2) led GW with 22 points & 10 assists

From our friends at GW Athletics...

Men’s Basketball Battles, But Gets Beat by Harvard

With a chance to climb above .500 for the first time in almost two calendar years, the George Washington men's basketball team hosted the Harvard Crimson in a Saturday matinee in DC.

The Crimson came in battle-tested having played a schedule that's already seen three Power 5 foes and having walloped UMass last time out at home, 89-55.


The Buff and Blue battled the bigger, deeper Crimson all game long, but simply ran out of gas at the end. With three Colonials playing the full 40 minutes (first-year Jamison Battle, Maceo Jack and Armel Potter), and having lost super-sub Justin Williams due to injury after just 2:26 of court time, GW went cold late and after leading 39-37 at halftime, dropped to 5-6 on the season with the 88-75 defeat.

Frosh Jamison Battle scored 18 points

As has been trending for GW since last month's trip to the Bahamas, senior point guard Armel Potter was a maestro on offense. His first-ever double-double at GW came courtesy of a game-high tying 22 points along with a season-high 10 assists in a 9-of-13 shooting effort. Potter was joined by Battle (18 points, 4-of-10 3pt. FG), Jack (14 points, 4-of-9 3pt. FG) and first-year Jameer Nelson Jr. (13 points, 3-of-6 3pt. FG) in double figures, with GW's rookie starters (Battle and Nelson Jr.) combining to shoot 7-of-16 (.438) from long range. A staple of Head Coach Jamion Christian's preferred style of play - beating the opposition from behind the three-point line - was on full display on Saturday with the Colonials canning 11-of-25 threes (.440) while limiting Harvard to 2-of-12 (.167.)

Maceo Jack (#14) scored 14 points

Alas, Harvard turned its sights inside where the more physical squad had its way in the paint. 62 of Harvard's 88 points came in the interior, partially owed to GW big man Arnaldo Toro limited by early foul trouble. 6'9", 235lb. Crimson senior Chris Lewis netted an easy 22 points on 10-of-13 field goal attempts, many from point-blank range. 6'11' senior Robert Baker dropped 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and 6'7" sophomore Noah Kirkwood tallied 16 points in a 6-of-9 performance from the floor.

Jameer Nelson Jr. (#12) added 13 points & 6 rebounds

GW saw success early and enjoyed an eight-point lead late in the first half, before the Crimson regrouped and came in waves. As the home team was gassed, Harvard kept coming and parlayed its depth into a 26-2 advantage in bench points.

Senior Chris Lewis led Harvard with 22 points

Now with a full week off before next Saturday's home contest with Longwood at 4 PM, the Colonials will prepare to climb back to .500 before finishing the calendar year at Vermont on New Year's Eve at 2 PM.

The Great Wall of Arnaldo Toro (#12, team-high 7 rebounds)

Click here for yesterday's box score.

Junior Javier Langarica (#32)

GW Head Coach Jamion Christian

Harvard Head Coach Tommy Amaker

Tonic Trivia Question

GW Cheer Team