By Rick Ryan, For the Gazette-Mail
Even when you’ve been there before — and George Washington certainly has — it never gets old to get to the state tournament.
The Patriots shrugged off some early ball-handling adventures Wednesday evening to capture a 72-51 victory against Princeton in the Class AAAA Region 4 co-finals at GW High School and secure a berth in next week’s big show at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center.
Patriots senior guard Brendan Hoffman poured in 36 points, going over 1,000 for his career in the process, and senior forward Ben Nicol donated 14 points, four rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots.
It’s the seventh straight year in which GW has qualified for the state tourney, although no one got to play in 2020 when COVID-19 canceled the entire event.
“It’s an honor, it really is, to play in the state tournament,” said GW coach Rick Greene. “We had a lot of years when we haven’t. We haven’t been there more years than we have.
“I’ve had some really good players who never got there and that’s still a regret of mine … so, no, we never take this for granted. We always consider it an honor, and we try to make sure these guys understand that as well.”
Princeton (16-6) got the attention of the boisterous crowd in the first half as it trailed just 27-23 despite shooting only 26%. The Tigers’ swarming defense forced 13 GW turnovers in the first half, 10 of them the result of steals.
But George Washington (22-3) eventually solved that issue and came out firing in the second half. The Patriots hit 10 of 12 shots in the third period, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range, and were comfortably ahead 52-29 entering the fourth quarter.
“We wanted to be active on defense,” said Princeton coach Robb Williams, “and we were with the hands. Truth is, if we’d shot the ball decently in the first half … We had four stops at the start and missed three wide-open looks. You miss those against the No. 2 team in the state?
“We were outsized. Obviously, we’re very small, so we had to be tenacious, and we went after it. We played really well in the first half and were still in the game. Then they were lights out — shooting the ball really well. We switched up defenses a couple times to give them different looks, but [Hoffman] was tough for us to handle.”
Hoffman tallied 24 of his 36 points in the second half, ending up 7 of 9 from long range, including a string of six straight makes. The Patriots as a team were 12 of 23 on 3s.
Greene said a suggestion by assistant coach Todd Hutchinson at halftime made all the difference in cutting down the turnover total. GW had just three more in the second half.
“We got to panicking [in the first half],” Greene said. “We didn’t move. They spread their zone and we were a little tight, playing in the regional game. Then we settled down at halftime.
“Todd made a great call at halftime and we switched and went to our man offense and got more movement, and I thought that changed the whole complexion of the game. We moved freely then, got open shots and came down and hit some and got some breathing room.”
Dawson Lunsford grabbed nine rebounds to pace GW to a 34-23 edge off the boards and Noah Lewis went 4 of 5 shooting for eight points and blocked two shots. But like most games this season, the Patriots leaned on Hoffman and Nicol for major contributions.
“They can do so much,” Greene said. “I’ve said it all year — sometimes Ben doesn’t score a lot, but he’s doing everything else and everybody’s getting shots. We can get so stats-conscious in this sport that we forget what a really great player does, and he makes everybody else better.
“So you want to press us, we move Ben and Brendan out. I’m very spoiled to have those two. I think any coach in the state would take them. I’m very fortunate to have them.”
GW seeks its third state title since 2018, after getting ousted by South Charleston in last year’s opening round. Hoffman was asked if it felt like a relief or a joyous occasion to make the state tournament again.
“It feels good,” he said, “but the job’s not finished yet. We’re trying to get the job done, and then we get time to celebrate.
“We’re really cool with whoever [we play]. G-dub is G-dub. The game really comes down to us, depends on us. If we do what we’re supposed to do, taught to do by the coaches, we’ll get the job done.”
For Princeton, Nic Fleming led in scoring with 16 points, followed by Kris Joyce (11) and Koen Sartin (11). Sartin also had five rebounds and Fleming four steals.
George Washington 72, Princeton 51
Princeton;10;13;6;22;–;51
George Washing.;14;13;25;20;–;72
Princeton (16-6)
Fleming 7-13 0-0 16, Stover 1-3 0-1 2, Hancock 1-10 2-2 4, Joyce 2-9 6-7 11, Sartin 4-9 0-0 11, Cochran 2-8 0-0 4, Edwards 1-1 0-0 3, Washington 0-2 0-0 0, Watson 0-1 0-0 0, totals 18-56 8-10 51
George Washington (22-3)
Lewis 4-5 0-0 8, Lunsford 2-5 0-0 5, Hoffman 12-16 5-5 36, Deem 1-4 0-0 3, Nicol 5-8 1-1 14, Dennison 1-1 0-0 2, Kelley 0-0 0-0 0, Gute 1-3 0-0 2, Maddox 0-1 0-0 0, Lowe 0-0 0-0 0, Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Michael 1-1 0-0 2, Mullen 0-1 0-0 0, totals 27-45 6-6 72
3-point shooting: Princeton 7-22 (Fleming 2-3, Stover 0-1, Hancock 0-5, Joyce 1-6, Sartin 3-6, Edwards 1-1), GW 12-23 (Lunsford 1-4, Hoffman 7-9, Deem 1-4, Nicol 3-4, Gute 0-1, Mullen 0-1)
