Sophomore Yuta Watanabe scored 19 points to lead the fifth-seeded George Washington University men’s basketball team into the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament with a 73-65 win Thursday afternoon over 13th-seeded Saint Louis at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The Colonials (23-9) will face fourth-seeded Saint Joseph’s at 2:30 p.m. Friday with a spot in the tournament’s semifinals on the line. The game will be broadcast on the NBCSN, the NBC Sports Network.
Mr. Watanabe’s 19 points came on 7-of-10 shooting, while Tyler Cavanaugh added 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds and three steals. Kevin Larsen and Patricio Garino chipped in 10 points apiece to round out the Colonials’ double-figure scorers.
Joe McDonald facilitated the offense with 10 assists against just one turnover to go with his nine points.
GW forced 17 Saint Louis turnovers, which yielded a 21-9 advantage for the Colonials on points off of turnovers. GW also made 10 more free throws than St. Louis attempted, as the Billikens went to the free throw line just six times in the game.
GW drained nine 3-pointers with two apiece from Mr. Garino, Mr. Larsen and Mr. Watanabe.
The Colonials never trailed in the game and got off to an early 12-4 lead with Mr. Watanabe scoring six of GW’s first eight points. After Saint Louis (11-21) cut the lead to three, the Colonials opened a nine-point lead with 1:15 remaining in the opening half with another 12-4 spurt. A Saint Louis three-pointer with eight seconds left made it 33-27 at halftime.
The Billikens pulled within three twice early in the second half, but back-to-back triples by Mr. Larsen and Matt Hart ignited a 10-0 run that gave the Colonials a game-high 13-point cushion, 50-37, with 11:44 to go.
Saint Louis managed to cut its deficit to single digits but never got closer than five, as a three-pointer from Mr. Garino at the 2:58 mark reopened a nine-point lead, and Mr. McDonald, Alex Mitola and Mr. Cavanaugh combined to make 7-of-10 free throws over the final 90 seconds to seal the win.
The Colonials, who have won five of their last seven games, have now won its first game at the A-10 Championship three years in a row.