No matter the era, what isn’t guaranteed this time of year is effort.
By now, teams that have no chance of advancing in March have a choice. Fight until the end or quit.
George Washington came into tonight’s senior night in Foggy Bottom having lost 12 games in a row.
The expectation would be that the effort would be low and James Bishop would have 40 shot attempts.
Neither happened in the 86-75 win over the Bonnies.
The effort was high and Bishop was efficient (8-13 from the floor, 27 points).
The Revolutionaries have struggled all season on the defensive end of the floor.
Per KenPom, George Washington came into tonight 284th in the country in Defensive Efficiency. That includes being 214th in defending the three-point shot.
George Washington was in a good place at halftime.
They were only down 42-37 with an offense that conjured up some warm memories and Bishop assumed charge of the scoring.
Bishop was 5-9 from the field including 4-7 from three in the first 20 minutes. He played under control along with the rest of the offense. The Revolutionaries shot 54.2% from the floor as they looked as competent and balanced as they had in some time.
The flip side was the first 20 minutes also showed the Revolutionaries’ defensive ineptitude.
The Bonnies shot 55.6% from the floor. The shots came with ease.
Moses Flowers and Assa Essamvous looked unstoppable as they combined to shoot 8-15 from the floor for 20 points.
The Revolutionaries started the second half scoring five of the first seven points.
A Darren Buchanan Jr. dunk followed by a steal-and-score by Jacoi Hutchinson gave George Washington its first lead since 3-0 causing the Bonnies to call timeout.
But the defensive inefficiency reared its head after the timeout. The Revolutionaries lost a hot Flowers and he made them pay with a three. That was followed by a jump hook by former teammate, Noel Brown.
Hutchinson responded with a three-pointer that tied the game at 51. That was followed by a Bishop layup.
Any thought of George Washington quitting was out of the window.
Bishop’s deep three pushed George Washington’s lead to four. Maximus Edwards followed that up with a layup and all of a sudden, the Revolutionaries had their largest lead of the game.
The lead would get to nine with 7:02 left on a Trey Autry three-pointer.
Not only would George Washington not surrender the lead, they would push the lead to double digits.
Along with Bishop, the Revolutionaries got a strong effort from Edwards (19 points, 7 rebounds), Buchanan Jr. (14 points), and Hutchinson (13 points, 7 assists)
