Washington, D.C. – Red Auerbach, one of George Washington's most notable athletic alums was asked about a team having one great player and he answered "I think it's very difficult for one man to beat you. Chamberlain once popped off, he says, 'Give me five guys named Joe and I'll beat anybody around here.' And they got him five guys on a playground and beat him. It's not a one man game."
The Colonial's Yuta Watanabe tried to prove Auerbach wrong tonight, seeming at times to be a one-man show as he scored a career-high 31 points to lead George Washington to a 72-56 Atlantic 10 win over the Rams in the Smith Center.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 9-20 overall on the season, 4-13 in the Atlantic 10, while George Washington improves to 14-16 overall, 7-10 in the conference.
Junior forward
Prokop Slanina led the Rams with 19 points, matching his career-high, while junior guard
Joseph Chartouny added eleven points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals. Senior guard
Will Tavares and junior guard David Pekarek also finished in double figures for the Rams with ten points each.
The Rams started out slowly on offense, trailing by eleven, 15-4, 5:40 into the game with Watanabe scoring eleven of the 15 Colonial points.
Fordham scored the next seven points, five of those from Chartouny, to cut the Rams' deficit to four, 15-11, with 12:44 left in the half and the visitors trailed by five, 23-18, following a Slanina three-pointer with 7:36 remaining when George Washington used a 13-2 run to take a 36-20 lead with 4:20 on the clock.
The Colonials built the lead to 19 at the break, 44-25, and would get the lead to as many as 23 in the second half, while the closet the Rams would get would be 14, which they did twice, the final at 70-56, on a
Cavit Havsa layup with 1:47 left.
Takeaways
The game was played on the anniversary of first televised college basketball game between Fordham and Pittsburgh played in Madison Square Garden on February 28, 1940.
The game was a Homecoming for senior guard
Brenton Petty, who hails from Washington, D.C.
The Rams committed fewer turnovers than the Colonials (14-12), the 18th time this year that Fordham has fewer turnovers in a game than its opponent.
The Rams toured the Nation's capital on Wednesday afternoon, visiting the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial.
The Colonials have now taken seven straight meetings with Fordham.
George Washington's Patrick Steeves is good friends with Fordham's
Joseph Chartouny as they attended high school together in Montreal.
The Colonials entered the game leading the Atlantic 10 in blocked shots (5.0/game) and swatted six Fordham shots tonight.
GW entered the game 13th in the A-10 in three-pointers made/game (5.6) and had just four long distance shots tonight.
The game was GW's Senior Night as the Colonials honored four seniors before the game.
George Washington has a special seat painted red to honor Auerbach in the Smith Center.
By the Numbers
9 – Field goals made by
Prokop Slanina, a career-high (previous career-best was eight against UMass last month).
19 – Points by
Prokop Slanina, matching his career-high set against LIU earlier this year and matched in the win over UMass.
31 – Points scored by George Washington's Yuta Watanabe, a season-high for a Fordham opponent.
91 – Steals on the year for
Joseph Chartouny, three shy of his school record of 94 set last year.
103 – Games lost by Fordham players due to injury in 2017-2018.
241 – Career steals for
Joseph Chartouny, who had three tonight, good for third place on the Fordham career list.
427 – Career assists for
Joseph Chartouny, who had seven tonight, placing him in fifth place on the Fordham all-time assists list.
963 – Career points for
Joseph Chartouny.
What's Next?
The Rams return to the historic Rose Hill Gym to host the VCU Rams in the regular season Atlantic 10 finale on Saturday, March 3, at 2:00 p.m.
VCU leads the all-time series, 7-1.
VCU took this year's first meeting, 76-63, in Richmond on December 30 behind 23 points and 14 rebounds from Justin Tillman and 14 points from De'Riante Jenkins while
Will Tavares scored 20 points for Fordham.
The game will be Senior Day for the Rams who will honor the graduating seniors on the 2017-2018 squad.
