#5 Virginia Cavaliers Cruise by the Colonials of George Washington Slow start buries the Colonials as Cavaliers grab early lead and never look back By Nick Grossman Nov. 11, 2018 CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 5 University of Virginia (2-0) defeated George Washington University (0-3) 76-57 on a Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena in a fashion that has become familiar to Cavalier fans in recent years. An early lead marked by stifling defense propelled UVa. to a smooth and comfortable victory at home, where they never trailed in the game’s entirety. The Cavaliers relied on their now famous pack-line defense to jump out to a 21-4 advantage a little more than midway through the first half. GW’s second made field goal did not come until 8:34 to play in the first half when a Justin Mazzulla layup ended the Cavalier run. Mazzulla’s layup sparked a 6-0 run for the Colonials, but the Cavaliers quickly regained control and momentum with a 12-2 scoring run of their own. The first half ended with UVa. holding a commanding 42-17 lead. GW was held to only five made field goals in the half on 22.7 percent shooting from the field. On the other side of things, the Cavaliers relied on junior guards Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy as the two combined for 29 of UVa.’s 42 first half points. The Cavaliers shot over 50 percent from the field at 55.2 percent and 41.7 percent from behind the arc. Guy finished the game with 20 points on 8-15 shooting, an improvement from his eight points on 2-6 shooting in the season opener on Tuesday. “I had a lot more confidence today than I did the first game. I can’t really explain why. Just guys like Ty telling me to keep shooting and keep feeding me. You know some of them are bound to go in,” said Guy. UVa. head coach Tony Bennett was pleased with his team’s performance in the first half. “We were sharp, made it hard for them to get good looks…when Kyle gets rolling and Ty, good things happen. We competed in the right way and had a mindset about us,” said Coach Bennett. GW came out of the locker room determined to not fold and make the Cavaliers work for a victory. “I saw some grit and fight… a young team in this environment against a team that talented has every right to lay down, but our guys didn’t shy away,” said GW head coach Maurice Joseph. The second half began with an 8-0 run by the Colonials, and Coach Bennett called timeout to try to regroup his team. Cutting the deficit to 42-25 here was the closest the Colonials would get to UVa. in the second half. The Colonials continued to score as they scored more points, 19, in the first seven minutes of the second half than they did in the entire first half, 17. Even with this newfound success on offense, GW struggled to do any significant damage to UVa.’s lead as they never got within 20 points of the Cavaliers again after that initial run to start the half. A highlight so good that it could make an appearance on SportCenter’s Top 10 Plays tonight or tomorrow morning came when UVa. junior guard Braxton Key threw a behind the back pass between two defenders, leading to a slam dunk by redshirt-junior forward Mamadi Diakite. The crowd erupted, and the Cavaliers eventually took a 66-36 lead. While Coach Bennett pulled his starters to try to let younger players get more experience, GW would not give up so easily. The Colonials went on an 11-0 run, forcing Coach Bennett to quickly put all five of his starters back in with six minutes to play. After the starters settled things down again for the Cavaliers, Coach Bennett was able to go back to his bench. With 1:06 left in the game, a UVa player checked into the game wearing number one. The roster says number one for the Cavaliers is a 6-7, 205 pound forward, not a skinny 6-1 guard. This is because the player checking in was actually UVa. junior and former team manager Grant Kersey. Coach Bennett had made Kersey aware that he would now be suiting up with the team just prior to the first game of the season. “You want to get some guys off and avoid injury and get other guys minutes and then reward a true servant…our managers are great. They just give, give, give. He’s a joy to have out there” said Coach Bennett. Kersey was fouled with 43 seconds left in the game and sent to the line for two free throws. The crowd understood what was at stake here as Kersey had a chance to earn his first career college points. He calmly sank both free throws as the crowd made the loudest cheers of the game. “Off the court, he’s a great kid. Seeing him score his first collegiate points or just seeing him suiting up in a game is amazing. He’s a real hard worker. He’s a real servant,” said Jerome. “I took a sigh of relief. I knew I couldn’t miss it bad,” said Kersey about scoring his first points at the free throw line. While this moment will only show up as two points in the box score of a lopsided game, everybody in attendance and on the court knows it was worth much more. The Cavaliers look to remain unbeaten as they host Coppin State University Friday night at 7:00 at John Paul Jones Arena. .