Photo courtesy of gobonnies.com
BY: WILL NUNN; CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SPORTS EDITOR
On a Wednesday night where five senior players were honored pregame at the Charles E. Smith Center, George Washington needed to wait until after an overtime session to celebrate a 91-82 win over the St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team.
It was a junior who stole the show on Senior Night for the Revolutionaries (17-13, 8-9 A-10), as guard Jean Aranguren led the way with 20 points. Graduate forward Tyrone Marshall Jr. added 16 points and three steals and junior guard Trey Autry tallied 15 points.
Redshirt senior center Rafael Castro recorded his 1,000th career point in the second half, and finished with 13 points to go along with 12 rebounds.
The Bonnies (15-15, 4-13 A-10) were led by senior forward Frank Mitchell, who also recorded his 1,000th career point and continued his double-double barrage with 22 points and 18 rebounds. Senior guard Cayden Charles added 20 points and junior guard Darryl Simmons II poured in 19 points, 14 of which came in the second half.
An even first half was flipped on its head when a 10-0 Bonaventure run put the Bonnies ahead by five inside of four minutes to play. The Revolutionaries fought back to hold a 36-35 lead at the break. A seven-point George Washington lead was the largest for either team in the half.
Autry led all scorers with 10 points in the first half for the Revolutionaries, while Dinkins added eight points.
Mitchell scored nine points and grabbed a first-half-high seven rebounds for Bonaventure. Charles complemented Mitchell with eight points before the half.
The second half began with George Washington opening up a six point lead prior to the first media timeout. George Washington extended its lead to as many as eight early in the half but the Bonnies would not go away.
Simmons cut the lead to one inside of six minutes to play with a 3-pointer and trailed by one with three minutes remaining when freshman center Andrew Osasuyi fouled out, as sophomore forward Joe Grahovac took his place for the remainder of the contest.
Grahovac would cut the deficit once again to one on a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left after an errant alley-oop attempt by Autry sent Bonaventure the other way. After the Revolutionaries split two free throws, Simmons knocked down a pair from the line on the other end and tied the game with 20 seconds to go. George Washington failed to get a shot off on the ensuing possession, sending the game to overtime.
The extra session was all George Washington, who got hot at the right time as the Bonnies went ice cold. The Bonnies shot 2-of-10 from the field and 0-of-6 from beyond the arc in overtime as the Revolutionaries ran out to their largest lead of the game and pulled away to close out the senior day win.
The Bonnies will put a bow on the regular season on Saturday, March 7 in a clash with Davidson University at the Reilly Center for Senior Day. The game is scheduled to tip off at 12 p.m. and will be broadcast live on USA Network and the Bonnies Online Network.
