Cavaliers coast to win over George Washington

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Three games to start the season, three 20-plus point wins. That described the Virginia Cavaliers’ season entering Friday night’s tussle with the George Washington Colonials.

The Cavaliers coasted into what was expected to be a challenge from a good Colonials team that had won their first two games of the year.

What followed was a second half explosion that saw the No. 9 Cavaliers pull away and suffocate George Washington in a 59-42 win in front of 13,706 fans at John Paul Jones Arena.

“That’s a well-coached team, a physical team that has experience,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “The way we were to begin the game on both ends of the floor was really a problem, we were fortunate to be down four at the half.”

Guard Justin Anderson scored a team-high 18 points for the Cavaliers and added eight rebounds in the win. Guard Malcolm Brogdon added 15 points and five rebounds.

“He’s (Anderson) done a good job,” Bennett said. “I thought Justin and Malcolm were the ones that got us going down the wrong path early. When they got us down the wrong track that hurt, but once they settled down we were fine.”

After trailing by four points at the half, Virginia (4-0) locked down the Colonials in the second half and galloped to the 17-point win. George Washington (2-1) shot just 33 percent for the game and was just 4-18 from the three-point line.

“They (Virginia) did a great job, we struggled to score,” George Washington head coach Mike Lonergan said. “We thought we were controlling tempo but in the second half or lack of scoring hurt us mentally.”

Guard Kethan Savage led the Colonials with 13 points while forward Yuta Watanabe chipped in with 10 points.

Forward Kevin Larsen, who was averaging 11 points and nine rebounds heading into the game, was held to just two points on 1-3 shooting and only managed three rebounds.

“We tried to trap him (Larsen) at times,” Bennett said. “He’s so strong and he’s actually a good passer so sometimes we got nervous coming at him but we did a good job on him.”

Virginia started the second half with a 14-2 run to gain the advantage that they would never relinquish.

“I thought we weren’t nervous and we were ready to play,” Lonergan said. “But when they make a run and pull away, I was shocked by some of the turnovers we had.”

The Cavaliers shot 42 percent for the game but were just 1-9 from beyond the arc after entering the game with one of the best three-point percentages in the nation.

Forward Darion Atkins got his second straight start for the Cavaliers and scored eight points while pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds. Virginia outrebounded George Washington 41-28 for the game.

“I thought we grinded them and ran our offense,” Brogdon said. “We had to be more patient. We started taking our time and got the ball to places we wanted to and we outworked them in the second half after they outworked us in the first half.”

The Cavaliers entered the game averaging eight blocks and exceeded that by swatting nine shots on the night.

George Washington started hot from beyond the arc, making their first two shots to take an early 6-2 lead.

The Colonials led by as many as six points in the first 10 minutes until Virginia used two three-point plays by center Mike Tobey to tie the score at 13 with 8:19 to play.

George Washington took their largest of the first half when guard Nick Griffin gave the Colonials a 24-17 advantage.

The Colonials led 26-22 at halftime.

George Washington shot 46 percent from the field in the half but turned the ball over seven times. Savage and guard Joe Anderson scored six points apiece in the half.

Virginia shot just 33 percent from the field in the first half as the Cavaliers struggled to find a rhythm. They were led by Anderson’s eight points in the half.

NOTES: This was the first meeting between the two teams since a 79-66 Virginia win in 2004. … George Washington boasts four players averaging 11 or more points per game. … Virginia