George Washington cruises to easy win over Gretna

On Friday night, Dalric Beard had the opportunity to watch his alma mater from a different perspective — namely, the opposite bench.

It wasn’t a pretty sight.

The top-seeded George Washington Eagles scored the game’s first 17 points and rolled to an 85-48 victory over eighth-seeded Gretna on the opening night of the 26th annual Register and Bee Shootout at Averett University’s Grant Center.

Beard, a former player and assistant coach for the Eagles, is now in his first season as the head coach at Gretna, which has lost its first four games.

“It was bittersweet,” he said. “I played for GW, I played for Coach (Bobby) Martin and I also coached for Coach Martin. So it’s good to see them, but it’s a little different when you’re sitting on the opposite side.”

Martin agreed. “You love all your ex-players,” he said. “You want to see them do well. I don’t think you can put it into words when you play against your ex-players.”

CJ Barksdale scored a game-high 18 points and Stephen Coles recorded a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds as GW improved its record to 8-0 and advanced to play Liberty Christian Academy in tonight’s second semifinal. That game will begin approximately 15 minutes after the conclusion of the Dan River-Eastern Alamance contest, which tips off at 6 p.m.

The Eagles have captured the last four Shootout titles and have won 17 overall since the tournament’s inception in 1983. 

Playing for the first time in eight days, GW showed no signs of rust on Friday. Darryl Jones drilled a 3-pointer at the 5:21 mark of the opening period, giving the Eagles a 9-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, it was 17-0 when Gretna finally scored on an off-balance jumper from Robbie Slayton.

The Eagles led 30-6 after one period and 46-22 at the intermission. Barksdale had 12 points in the first half and Chris White had nine after connecting on three 3-pointers. By the end of the night, 12 different players figured in the scoring for GW.

“We’re still trying to get better,” Barksdale said. “So we just come out strong, never slack off and always make an impression.”

Gretna had three players in double figures. TJ Jennings led the way with 13, Marquistin Calloway had 12 and Commillious Waller chipped in with 10. The taller Eagles finished with a 42-18 rebounding advantage.

“They’re probably going to be the biggest team that we’re going to see all year long,” Beard said, “and the most athletic and the most talented. I told my guys before we went out there, ‘If we can play with them, we can play with anybody else in our conference.’”

GW and Liberty Christian have already met once this season. On Dec. 12 in Danville, the Eagles were clinging to a six-point lead midway through the fourth quarter before pulling away for a 51-37 win.

“What they do, they do very well,” Martin said. “What we do, we try to do very well. We’re going to keep working at it, and we’ll just go at it. You’ve got to be sound when you play them. You’ve got to be tough and you’ve got to be sound.”