February 13, 1985: at Georgia Southern (9-14)
The Eagles have gone from an up-and-coming NCAA darling, in Jack's freshman season, to a return to afterthought status. They went 8-21 last year, and are 9-14 in this campaign. They have just two seniors on the roster, and only four juniors. They're led by Scott Adkins (12.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg). Leading rebounder Jack Clement (8.4 rpg, 7.6 rpg) is banged up, but should play. They are a rotten team on offense, and playing a defensively superior team like GW should swallow them up.
Armbruster hits a free throw to open things up. Jack gets a steal, but is blocked by Kip Blackstock. Yup, it's the 80s. Armbruster scores inside...Jack gets a block of Adkins. Blackstock gets the Eagles on the board, and Cleveland gets a three-point play. Jack hits a three to get started himself. With four minutes gone, it's 6-5.
This game is setting the game back thirty years. Jack finds Armbruster for the score, then finds him again. Rudolph Lyons hits a three. 10-8, GW. Kenny gets a steal, but Jack gets blocked again. Darron O'Kelley hits a three, but Jack responds. He has a 5-5-2 line. They repeat that process, O'Kelly three, Jack responds, and it's tied. Hector hits a three...and now the subs are in. Adkins hits...17-16 with 9:12 left.
Ali scores, the Kipper walks, and the starters are back. Lyons gets a steal and a layup. Armbruster fouls O'Kelley, who ties it. Hulett hits two free throws. Jack gets a board, brings it up, finds himself open, and drills it. The Kipper hits a three, but Armbruster gets a dunk. The Kipper ties it with another three, but Jack responds. The Kipper scores again. Cleveland fouls Armbruster, who scores. He has 11. It's 29-27. Jack has an 11-7-2 line at the moment.
Jack hits two from the line. Kevin Johnson scores for GS. Hector scores, and gets fouled. Jorge Funk gets the ball stolen, but steals it back and gets the layup. Jack breaks the press, throws it down with the foul...Funk scores inside, and Kipper gets a charge on Hector. Woods scores, but the Kipper scores. He has 12, and it's 38-35. Funk fouls Grayson, who scores two. Two minutes left, it's 42-35.
Woods is fouled by Blackstock, and he hits two. The Kipper hits a three. He has 15. The half ends 44-38...Jack has 16-7-2. GW has outrebounded the Eagles 18-13. They should pull away early on here.
Woods fouls Funk, who hits one of two to start the half. Funk scores. I said GW should pull away early. Jack scores. 46-41. Jack finds Armbruster. The Kipper walks, but Jack tosses it into the stands. Jack scores, giving him 20 for the game. He follows that with a three. He has a 23-8-3 line, and it's 53-41 with 14:02 left.
Nothing happens for awhile. The GW defense has clamped down, as it often does. Jack's up to a double-double (23-10-3); Lyons hits a three, then Jack scores from inside. Kenny gets a steal, and gets it to Jack for the layup. Kipper hits his first points of the half. It's 57-50 after Lyons hits a three, prompting a GW timeout.
Kipper blocks a Hulett three, and Funk is founed by Grayson, who gets the three-point play. Jack scores, but Lyons cuts it to three with a three. Denny Perez gets the bucket, the foul, and the free throw. 7:48 left, and the JVs are in. Hector with a steal, but Ali messes it up. Jack and Hulett return.
On cue, Jack finds Hulett. Jack has a 29-10-5 line. Stephen Higgins gets an offensive rebound dunk. Perez responds with a three. He has six big points here. 67-58. Jack goes to the line, hits both, and it's 69-58. The Kipper fouls Jack...he has four fouls, and Jack hits both. Kenny gets a steal, and Armbruster scores. It's 73-58, and GW has gotten away from GS. Jack gets fouled, and goes one of two. Three minutes left.
Jack gets a steal, and he's fouled. He hits both. The starters remain in for another possession, before finally giving way. The final is 78-66. The team didn't play too well, save for Jack and Armbruster, who had 15 on 7-9 shooting.
Code:
George Washington 78, Georgia Southern 66
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George Washington (23-1, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Brian Armbruster C 29 7-9 1-5 1 4 0 4 15
Bruce Woods PF 31 2-9 2-2 1 4 0 2 6
Jack Dawkins SF 34 12-18 10-11 3 12 5 1 36
Kenneth Frazier SG 27 0-2 0-0 0 3 3 1 0
Richie Hulett PG 34 1-9 2-2 4 5 6 2 4
Hector Patterson PG 15 2-3 0-1 0 1 3 2 5
Glenn Grayson PF 12 0-1 2-2 1 3 1 1 2
Denny Perez C 7 2-2 1-1 1 2 0 1 6
Porter Ali SF 5 1-1 2-2 0 0 0 0 4
F. Boutwell SG 3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
David Echevarria PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 14 (B.Armbruster 3, B.Woods 1, J.Dawkins 2,
K.Frazier 1, R.Hulett 2, H.Patterson 2, P.Ali 2,
F.Boutwell 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (B.Armbruster 3, J.Dawkins 1)
Steals: 10 (B.Armbruster 1, J.Dawkins 2, K.Frazier 5,
R.Hulett 1, H.Patterson 1)
3P FGs: 4-13 (B.Armbruster 0-1, J.Dawkins 2-4,
K.Frazier 0-1, R.Hulett 0-4, H.Patterson 1-2, D.Perez
1-1)
Georgia Southern (9-15, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Robert Cleveland C 9 1-1 1-1 0 1 0 5 3
Jorge Funk PF 23 5-7 2-4 1 4 1 1 12
Scott Adkins SF 25 1-5 0-0 2 5 1 3 2
Kip Blackstock SG 27 7-13 0-0 1 2 2 4 18
Rudolph Lyons PG 35 5-15 0-1 1 3 4 3 14
Darron Okelley SG 14 3-3 1-2 0 3 1 4 10
John Cromer PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0
Daniel Morgan PG 5 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 3
Kevin Johnson SF 13 1-1 0-0 0 2 1 1 2
Maxwell Dennis SG 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Damian Williams C 16 0-2 0-0 1 3 0 1 0
James Turner C 8 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Stephen Higgins PF 14 1-4 0-0 3 5 1 1 2
Jack Clement C 9 0-0 0-2 0 0 0 2 0
Turnovers: 19 (J.Funk 1, S.Adkins 5, K.Blackstock 7,
R.Lyons 3, D.Okelley 1, D.Williams 1, J.Clement 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (K.Blackstock 2, K.Johnson 1, J.Turner
1)
Steals: 4 (J.Funk 1, K.Blackstock 1, R.Lyons 2)
3P FGs: 12-27 (S.Adkins 0-2, K.Blackstock 4-8, R.Lyons
4-12, D.Okelley 3-3, D.Morgan 1-2)
Player of Game: SF Jack Dawkins (GW)