By Will Efrusy
The George Washington Revolutionaries fell in an emotionally charged 84-79 loss to visiting Davidson Wildcats Wednesday night at the Charles E. Smith Center.
From tipoff to the final horn, the arena was rocking, with a packed student section and a large contingent of traveling Davidson fans trading roars in a tightly contested, physical contest.
Despite trailing by 17 points with 16:49 remaining in the second half, GW battled back late, cutting the deficit to three in the game’s final minute with a deep, low-arcing step-back 3-pointer from guard Tre Dinkins.
Ultimately, GW was unable to overcome Davidson’s lights-out shooting performance from beyond the arc. The Wildcats outscored the Revs 42-27 from deep, while shooting an absurd 70% on 3-pointers in the second half to keep the game just out of the Revs grasp.
Davidson’s scoring effort was spearheaded by sophomore guard Roberts Blums, who finished the game with a career-high 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting from downtown.
Early in the first half, Blums scored four consecutive three-pointers, going on a solo 12-3 run to create Davidson’s first double-digit lead of the night and put GW squarely on its heels.
Following the game, GW head coach Chris Caputo credited Davidson for their shooting prowess, but said that a defensive emphasis on filling driving lanes since the Bahamas tournament may have resulted in the Revs being slow to adjust to Davidson’s perimeter speed and spacing. The result was GW being late in their defensive rotations and in their closeouts on shooters.
The Wildcats’ hot shooting was paired with GW’s offensive struggles. In the first half, the Revs struggled to find the pace and rhythm that have become trademarks of a historically efficient offense this season.
Multiple possessions went down to the shot clock buzzer, resulting in multiple forced three-pointers from guard Trey Autry and 24-second violations. GW finished the game shooting only 28% from deep.
Despite their struggles, GW still mounted an impressive comeback, with three Revolutionaries finishing the game in double-digit scoring. Rafael Castro led with 23 points and 16 rebounds, while Garrett Johnson added 18 and Christian Jones finished with 16.
Castro’s prowess on the glass, including seven offensive rebounds, helped the Revolutionaries take 18 more shots than the visiting Wildcats. However, Castro’s dominant double-double performance may unfortunately be defined by his struggles from the free-throw line, where he shot 3-for-9.
GW struggled collectively from the line, finishing 12-for-21, leaving nine points at the stripe in a closely contested game decided by five points.
Wednesday’s game marks the second tough home loss of the season for GW, both against teams that emphasize a slower pace of play.
Similar to its Dec. 10 loss to Delaware, GW struggled with Davidson’s ability to shorten the game by taking possessions deep into the shot clock and minimizing the Revs’ ability to get out in transition.
When asked postgame about the ceiling that he saw for his team despite recent losses, Johnson remained confident.
“It’s no secret that we believe we can win this league…we have the talent to do it, we have the experience and the size…we dropped a couple that we shouldn’t have dropped but it is a long season, and we want to play our best basketball into February and March and we know we are going to do that.”
GW is next in action Monday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in a nationally televised clash at cross-town rival George Mason on CBS Sports Network at 5 p.m.
