Watanabe, Nolan pace George Washington past VCU 80-56

Feb 18, 2018, 12:00 am

WASHINGTON -- Yuta Watanabe scored 23 points and pulled down nine rebounds, Terry Nolan Jr. matched his career high with 18 points and George Washington clobbered VCU 80-56 on Saturday.

Bo Zeigler added 12 points and Arnaldo Toro 11 for George Washington, which shot 53 percent (30 of 57) and forced 17 VCU turnovers, 11 after halftime. The Colonials (12-15, 5-9 Atlantic 10) outscored VCU 40-32 in the paint and 8-0 on the fast break.

George Washington has won three of its last four games and avenged an 87-63 loss to VCU on Jan. 20.

Justin Tillman scored 11 points with 13 rebounds and De'Riante Jenkins scored 10 for VCU (15-12, 7-7), which has lost a second straight game and four of the last five.

The Colonials took the lead for good when Nolan hit a 3-pointer a little more than four minutes into the game, and pushed it to 45-22 just before halftime.