George Washington flexes muscle after first quarter

Chris White slipped behind a Chatham player, leapt in front to steal the inbound pass and scored on a layup as time expired in the third quarter.

“They inbounds the ball,” White said, recalling the play, “so I just took it and tried to score real fast and I hit it.”

The George Washington guard also scored six consecutive points before intermission as the Eagles increased their effort and flexed their muscles in the second quarter to take full control of what had been a competitive contest. GW, which trailed after one quarter for the first time this season, tightened its game up from that point forward and routed visiting Chatham 92-43 on Thursday night in Danville.

“I didn’t even know we were down,” GW senior center Stephen Coles said. “The first quarter, they came out and brought their A-game and we had to regroup. Then they played our style — and it was a rout.”

C.J. Barksdale was a beast on the glass, hauling in 25 rebounds to go with his a game-high 16 points. Coles also finished with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 17 boards for GW (7-0).

White scored 15 points, Darius Carter scored 11 and Daniel Clark added 12 rebounds in the victory. David Slade and Rodney Carter each scored nine points.

Patrick Murphy and Chris Harbin led Chatham (4-2) with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Cavaliers scored the first four points of the game and held a 16-15 advantage after the first quarter, as Cam McCullen drilled a pull-up jumper for the lead as time expired.

“They came out pretty strong,” Barksdale said. “We were just trying to straighten up, because we know we’re better than that.”

Darius Carter handed the Eagles the lead at 17-16 nearly two minutes into the second quarter and Barksdale added an easy bucket by rebounding Carter’s missed and-one opportunity. Chatham, which was held to a single field goal and only seven points in the second quarter, was never able to retake the lead.
GW scored 26 points in the quarter and owned a 41-23 lead at intermission.

The Eagles opened the second half with a 14-0 run punctuated by a one-handed dunk by Coles that increased the hosts’ advantage to 25 points. The lead grew to 30 points less than three minutes into the third quarter and reached 40 points with about two and a half minutes remaining in the game.

“GW, they’ve got some weapons. They play well together. And that’s the thing about playing teams like that. We want to compete with them,” Chatham coach Barry Mayo said. “We’re always looking for a challenge and that’s why we play games like this. It helps us get better, and that’s the good thing about it.”

Boys junior varsity basketball
GW rolls over Chatham
Jarod Williams scored 19 points as George Washington rolled past Chatham 90-36 Thursday night. Terrence Grapsy scored 17 and Tim Moore added 13 for the Eagles (4-2). Aaron Rogers led the way for Chatham with 11 points.