WASHINGTON, D.C. – The George Washington backcourt duo of Maceo Jack and Jameer Nelson Jr. proved too much for Longwood in the nation's capital, powering the surging Colonials to a 78-65 home win over the Lancers Saturday afternoon at the Charles E. Smith Center.
 
Jack and Nelson combined for 36 points and drove a haymaker of a run in the first half that saw George Washington (6-6) score 21 unanswered points to erase a seven-point Longwood lead and put the Colonials ahead for good. The Colonial guard tandem poured in 14 points during the rally to kill Longwood's early momentum and turn a 29-22 deficit into a 43-38 halftime advantage.
 
"What I told the guys is we had some stretches out here tonight where the team looked really good and I would say we were the aggressor," said Longwood head coach Griff Aldrich. "As [George Washington head coach Jamion Christian] said, we had them on the ropes. But then we had some slippage, and you think about in the first half where we had a slew of quick turnovers. They were really just scoring on drives and our turnovers, for the most part.
 
"Those aren't hard things to clean up, particularly the turnovers because they weren't pressure turnovers. The guys did a better job in the second half – we only had five turnovers – but really we hurt ourselves in the first half, erased our lead and gave it to them."
 
After opening the game 9-of-14 from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range, the Lancers (5-8) hit a cold spell at the eight-minute mark in the first half and missed their next seven field goals while turning the ball over four times. The Colonials took advantage of that drought by scoring on 10 of their next 11 possessions, including a three-point play and a three-pointer from Jack.
 
Jack finished with a game-high 20 points for his fourth consecutive double-digit scoring game and eighth this season, while Nelson turned in 16 points for his fifth straight double-digit outburst. Armel Potter, the former guard from Longwood's Big South rival Charleston Southern and now the Atlantic 10's seventh-leading scorer, added 13 points and a game-high 12 assists.
 
The win was the fifth in the past seven games for the Colonials, who have allowed more than 70 points just once during that stretch. That resurgent defense showed itself in the second half Saturday, holding the Lancers to .270 (10-of-37) shooting from the field and .143 (2-of-14) from three-point range after halftime.
 
"They shot 45 percent from three, and every time I felt like they took a tough shot, it went down," Aldrich said. "Particularly that one from Ameer Harris that was a moon ball – as soon as it left his hands, I thought, oh man it's going in.
 
"We have to defend better, and hats off to them for making shots when they needed to. I thought they made some big shots. We didn't go away, I thought, and we continued to battle. But then they'd make a play, so credit to them. We didn't string enough good plays together to really mount a positive comeback."
 
The Lancers matched up against George Washington's No. 3 nationally-ranked three-point defense and became the first team to hit eight triples against the Colonials. However, six of those came in the first half, as George Washington clamped down on the perimeter and held Longwood to just two three-pointers the rest of the way. After Longwood seniors Shabooty Phillips, JaShaun Smith and Jaylon Wilson combined for 30 points in the first half, the Colonials clamped down and held that veteran trio to just 17 points after the break.
 
Smith led Longwood with a season-high 17 points, hitting 4-of-5 treys, while Phillips and Wilson finished with 15 points apiece. The dueling double-digit efforts were the third straight for Phillips and Wilson, who finished non-conference play averaging a combined 41.0 points per game over Longwood's final three outings.
 
The loss ends non-conference play for the Lancers, who will get a five-day break to prepare for the Big South opener against perennial conference powerhouse Winthrop on Jan. 2 in Rock Hill, S.C.
 
"I think we can take some optimism into conference play knowing that we just have to be more consistent," Aldrich said. "To be more granular, we have to be a team that has to respect, value and take extreme care of the details of the game. If I can be blunt, I think in the beginning part of the season, we had some guys who weren't playing well, the lineup was jumbled, and the guys weren't focused on the details. They were focused more on how is this all working out.
 
"Now as we're getting more situated, I do see guys getting more focused on the details. I do see us making strides defensively. We had some really good possessions tonight, several strings where we got three or four stops in a row. We need to do that to be successful. We shoot a lot of threes, and they're not always going to go. We were 2-for-14 in the second half, and what's going to keep you in it right there is your defense. We have to increase our focus on the details, which I think we're starting to do, which I'm excited about. If we do that, we're going to be a tough out in the conference season.  
 
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