George Washington 60, Richmond 48
It was a good indicator that points were going to be hard to come by when Damian Hollis, George Washington’s second-leading scorer, committed two fouls before either the Colonials or Richmond had made a basket Saturday night in the two teams’ Atlantic 10 Conference opener at Smith Center.
With Hollis limited and leading scorer Rob Diggs stifled, the Colonials managed just 14 points for their lowest first-half total of the season, far too many to overcome despite their much improved play after halftime in a 60-48 loss to Richmond in front of 2,770.
Despite five losses in a row, George Washington head coach Karl Hobbs preferred to be encouraged that the Colonials (6-7, 0-1 A-10) shot 46 percent from the field in the second half, instead of focusing on their 22 percent showing in the first – one field goal in the game’s first ten minutes – which allowed the Spiders (9-6, 1-0) to jump out to a 25-5 lead.
“I really felt that in the second half, we grew a little bit tonight,” said Hobbs. “We’ve got to focus on putting two halves together. We’re a young team trying to find ourselves. As a coach, I have to have a certain level of patience with these guys. I know the fans don’t, but I have to.”
Wynton Witherspoon, who was benched by Hobbs for all four games of the team’s West Coast and Hawaii trip during the holidays, played a season-high 32 minutes and led GW with 15 points, including 3-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc, and four assists.
“It was nice to get into a groove, finally,” said Witherspoon. “It took me long enough.”
Witherspoon scored 12 points in the second half, the same stretch that Diggs (seven rebounds) got nine of his ten, as the Colonials twice trimmed the Spiders’ lead to eight in the final three minutes. But each time Richmond responded, first with a 3-pointer off the glass by Jarhon Giddings (11 points, 6 rebounds) with 2:17 to play, the second with four free throws in the final minute from Kevin Anderson (12 points).
Justin Harper led the visitors with 19 points, including 14 in the first half, along with 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. David Gonzalvez added 13 points and 6 rebounds.
“I know this is a young team,” said Witherspoon. “It’s hard for some of them to keep that kind of intensity up for two halves. It was a missed opportunity. But we can’t hang our heads for too long. We’ve got another big game on Wednesday.”
