George Washington 64, Maryland-Eastern Shore 48 With his father, all four of his sisters, his immediate family and even his in-laws from Pennsylvania all helping to fill Smith Center on Friday, Mike Lonergan had plenty of motivation beyond the enthusiastic and expectant crowd in Foggy Bottom awaiting his George Washington coaching debut.
Despite moments of sloppiness and offensive inconsistency, Lonergan satisfied them all as the Colonials eased past Maryland-Eastern Shore with a 64-48 season-opening victory in front of 3,369.
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“I was really excited,” Lonergan said after making the move back to Washington following six seasons in a far less urban setting at Vermont. “They had the block party [on 22nd Street NW], and the school did a great job, all the student groups. Shutting down streets, that was pretty neat.”
Lonergan was also pleased with senior point guard Tony Taylor, who started where he left at the end of last season, picking his way into the paint for short jumpers on the way to a game-high 20 points and six rebounds.
The Colonials (1-0) crisply found their first points, with Lasan Kromah feeding Jabari Edwards (eight points, four blocks) inside for a layup on their opening possession for a 2-0 lead after 30 seconds. It took a more than five minutes to gather themselves after the initial adrenaline injection and score again.
But after a follow from Hillary Haley (12 points) gave the Hawks an 8-3 lead, Aaron Ware (nine points, eight rebounds) hit a layup to ignite a 16-2 run that included a three alley oops to David Pellom (nine points), the first two he slammed home before calmly laying in the third for a 19-10 advantage.
While GW shot 33 percent in the opening 20 minutes, the Hawks (0-1) combined 29-percent shooting from the field with 15 turnovers, making the Colonials’ halftime lead seem far bigger than 30-22.
Kromah, who missed all of last season with a foot injury, epitomized the Colonials’ offensive struggles, shooting 0-for-6 in the first half before scoring the first two buckets of the second half on effort plays. He finished with seven points on 3-for-12 shooting to go with five rebounds. Nemanja Mikic also never found his rhythm from outside, missing six of seven shots, including all four of his three-point attempts.
“When he’s scoring, he becomes a better defender,” Lonergan said of Kromah, who tallied 23 points in GW’s exhibition win over Bowie State last weekend. “… But defensively, Lasan’s got to bring it. He can help us in so many ways, and you can just see it when he’s not scoring. He doesn’t get back on defense, and it really affects his overall game.”
Taylor’s three-pointer from the wing completed the Colonials’ second half-opening 11-5 run, pushed their lead into double-digits for good, 41-27, and may it easier to stomach Tyler Hines’ 15 rebounds for the visitors.
GW knows that the level of competition will rise dramatically when it travels cross-country to face No. 24 California on Sunday. After his only home game until Dec. 7, Lonergan was able to leave his new school with a positive impression similar to the demeanor he carried in his first official game on the Colonials sideline.
“During the game, Coach Lonergan, he’s not really a screamer,” Taylor said. “If you come out, he’s going to tell you what you did wrong, and he’ll put you right back in. I think he made a lot of adjustments. I don’t think he was too angry, but he sure made sure that we know that we gotta play a lot better for Cal on Sunday.”
