GW turns up defense in the second half, tops Brooke Point

Even though George Washington faced a halftime deficit Saturday night against Brooke Point, the feeling in the locker room was that GW wasn’t playing its best on the defensive side of the court.

Whatever adjustments the Eagles made heading into the second half definitely paid dividends.

GW held Brooke Point to two third-quarter points and was able to stave off the Blackhawks’ fourth-quarter rally, 67-59, on Saturday night in the first round of the Northwest Region tournament.

GW (11-12) advances to the quarterfinals and will play at Cedar Run District champion Osbourn at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Osbourn (21-2) was ranked No. 7 in the final Associated Press Group AAA poll.

“It’s all about their belief in their abilities. We, as coaches, that’s our jobs to make them believe how good they actually are,” GW acting coach Brian Henderson said. “With the defensive intensity from the first man down to the last man on this team, we can be a very special and dominating team.”

During the Eagles’ ability to limit what Brooke Point (16-10) did in the third quarter, the offense came alive, especially from the bench play of Jamarcus Hairston and Tamario Rodgers.

Hairston and Rodgers combined to score 15 of GW’s 21 third-quarter points. The Eagles scored the first 17 points of the third and led 43-29 before Mario Gills’ (11 points) was able to score with 1:09 left in the third.

“It was an excellent third quarter,” GW junior forward Ahmad Thomas said. Thomas scored 11 points off the bench. “We came out and played good defense as a team.”

Hairston (15) and Rodgers (13) scored all of their points in the second half.

Ryan Corp led Brooke Point with 15 points and Cees Carter scored 14.

“We went from playing early in the game were we had control except for a couple of shots and we could have been up quite a bit,” Brooke Point assistant coach Jim Spicer said, “but now, we’re struggling to stay in the game because we weren’t doing the little things we were supposed to do.”

Brooke Point led 29-22 with 2:40 left in the second quarter after T.T. Felder scored an easy basket.

The Blackhawks did not score a point for the next 9 1/2 minutes as GW dictated almost every facet of the game.

“They already knew how I felt about how things were going,” Henderson said. “I felt like we should have definitely had that lead in the first half, but the thing that I noticed about the third quarter was the team chemistry from the guys on the floor to the guys that came in to the guys that were on the bench cheering them on. You could hear the whole gym cheering them on.”

Northwest Region tournament first round

George Washington 67, Brooke Point 59

BROOKE POINT (16-10)

Carter 6 0-0 14, Gills 5 1-3 11, Felder 3 0-0 6, Corp 5 3-4 15, Cotton 0 2-2 2, Phelps 2 0-0 4, Austin 0 0-0 0, Eddie 2 0-0 4, Swinton 1 0-0 3, Baba 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 6-9 59.

GEORGE WASHINGTON (11-12)

Burton 3 1-5 7, Cobbs 0 0-0 0, Jones 3 0-0 7, Martin 1 1-2 3, Calloway 2 0-0 4, Keen 1 0-0 3, Smith 2 0-2 4, Thomas 5 1-2 11, Rodgers 4 3-6 13, Hairston 7 0-0 15. Totals 28 6-17 67.

Brooke Point            16 13  2 28 — 59

George Washington 14 12 21 20 — 67

3-Point Goals — Brooke Point 5 (Carter 2, Corp 2, Swinton), GW 5 (Rodgers 2, Keen, Jones, Hairston). Fouled Out — None. Total Fouls — Brooke Point 16, GW 11.