Photo Credit: Nancy Kiner
By: Cameron Mays
Anchored by outstanding three-point shooting and gritty defensive stops down the stretch, the George Washington Revolutionaries led all afternoon Saturday, taking down the Dayton Flyers 82-62 for their first conference win of the season.
After letting a double-digit lead slip away against a vulnerable Richmond Spiders team on New Year’s Eve, the Revolutionaries limped into their first home conference game matched up against a Dayton team ranked number 33 in KenPom. In their non-conference slate, the Flyers took down nationally ranked teams in UConn and Marquette and just narrowly lost against Iowa State, UNC and Cincinnati. Coming into a Smith Center where there was more red and white than buff and blue in the stands, Dayton looked like they would live up to their hopes for an at-large bid at March Madness.
With confidence waning among the GW faithful, the news prior to tip that the Revs’ leading scorer, Darren Buchanan Jr., would be out with an ankle injury he sustained at practice the day before was crushing. Buchanan Jr.’s injury prompted head coach Chris Caputo to adjust both the lineup and the game plan, inserting Christian Jones and Sean Hansen as starters in place of Jacoi Hutchinson and the injured Buchanan Jr., respectively. While the majority of the offense has run through Buchanan Jr., the Revolutionaries would have to share the ball more to have a chance against the Flyers.
Caputo discussed his game plan with Buchanan injured, saying, “I thought we had to try to keep them on their heels because they keep you on your heels if you just kind of ‘do what we do.’ They’re good at picking on what you do. So my idea was we’re not going to ‘do what we do’; we’re going to do different things at times.”
Despite the pre-game narratives, it was like watching a completely new GW team play after the tip. The Revs came out of the gate scorching hot, jumping out to an 8-0 lead in two minutes after connecting on three of their first four shots from Christian Jones and Gerald Drumgoole Jr.
Jones led the way early, scoring 13 of GW’s first 16 points in the first five minutes. While his three-point shooting was exceptional early on, Jones’ strong drives to the basket scrambled Dayton defenders and created space for other GW players later in the half. He finished the first half with 15 points and three assists.
“My teammates and coaches believed in me, and I just took advantage of every moment that I got this year. Especially today, when I started, I just took full advantage of it,” Jones said of his performance after the game.
Despite some great defensive plays from the Flyers in the middle of the half, including holding GW scoreless for almost three minutes, the Revs found ways to respond. They stayed solid and got stops against a talented Dayton offense despite being out-rebounded 23-18 in the opening half. At the last media timeout of the first half, GW’s scoring had slowed down but they still led 36-21.
“I give kudos to Coach and the scout team in practice,” Drumgoole Jr. said about the team’s defensive effort and ability to impact the ball. “Coach constantly preaches to keep our same identity on defense no matter who’s on the floor and I think our defense carried with us tonight.”
The Flyers whittled the 17-point deficit to 11 with under a minute to go in the first half and looked like they may be able to cut the lead to single digits before the break, but GW prevented a momentum swing and closed out the half strong. Trey Autry connected on two free throws, giving him 10 first-half points, and a questionable out-of-bounds call for GW led to a Drumgoole three to beat the buzzer. The shot sent the Revs into the locker room with a 43-27 lead.
“I think that’s what we put the extra time in and for outside of practice. Compliments to my teammates they trust me with the ball at the end of the shot clock, so for them to have that trust in me, and allow me to take those types of shots means everything,” Drumgoole said of his ability to knock down shots as time expires.
Coming out of the break, Dayton looked like the top A-10 team many have raved about, flipping the script on GW with an 8-0 run to bring the lead back down to eight. While Jones contributed another five points, with 15:47 left, Dayton’s 15-5 run had cut the lead to six and the Smith Center rang out with “Let’s go Flyers” chants. After a free throw by Zed Key, the lead was five and GW was holding on for dear life.
“Coach gave us a big message at halftime: just stay poised. The game is not 20 minutes; it’s 40,” Drumgoole Jr. said. “Obviously, they made their run in the second half with a big push and we just stayed poised.”
While in the past fans might have seen GW lose their edge and give up the lead after getting knocked around, the Revs stood back up on Saturday and traded blows with Dayton to preserve their lead. Even when Posh Alexander gave Dayton five points in a row to cut the lead to 54-51 with 12 minutes left and GW committed back-to-back turnovers, the Revs regrouped and did not let go.
“The reality in life is that things don’t go well for you all the time, so it’s how you respond,” Caputo said about the team’s ability to keep fighting throughout Dayton’s pushes. “We constantly talk about ‘don’t react, respond,’ so I thought they did a good job when we were taking those haymakers.”
The game hung in the balance through the six-minute mark after Javon Bennet once again brought Dayton within four at 64-60. But after a huge and-one layup from Trey Moss to give GW a nine-point lead with 4:12 to go, even the most contrarian GW fan was starting to feel like a win was really going to happen.
The Revs on the court must have felt it too, because from the 5:17 mark, with a 64-60 lead, GW finished the game on an 18-2 run. Three straight threes from Drumgoole, Autry, and Jones, as well as a few blocks from Rafael Castro to close it out, sent the Smith Center into a frenzy and Dayton fans out the door before the final buzzer sounded.
Saturday’s players of the game were Jones and Drumgoole, who finished with 23 and 21 points, respectively, but Autry’s offense (17 points on perfect shooting) and the defense of Hansen and Castro were key contributions to the win. Overall, GW shot 45.9 percent from the floor, 48.4 percent from three, and held Dayton to 35 percent from the floor and 26.7 percent from three.
After arguably the best win of Caputo’s tenure at the helm, he highlighted GW’s defensive consistency throughout the game and the response the team had after the loss against Richmond.
“Great day for us. Coaches generally have miserable days even when you win during the season, but we played very well against a very very good team. That’s rare, you know, like it’s just hard to play as well as we did today against a team that’s that good.”
The Revolutionaries will hit the road next to face a Rhode Island team with high hopes on Wednesday, Jan. 8. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
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