Cincinnati hit their free throws and got their shots to drop when they needed to in a hard-fought, 61-56 win over a very good George Washington team to win the Barclays Center Classic in Brooklyn, New York. With the win, #24 Cincinnati hands the Colonials their first loss of the season and pushes their own undefeated record to 7-0.

Cincinnati trailed by three points at halftime and trailed by as much as six points in this game, but continued to grind and outlasted the Colonials on the shoulders of their star players. Troy Caupain was big in this one, scoring 16 points to lead the Bearcats. Caupain hit all four of his free throws, including three in the final 1:40 of the game and hit two three pointers at key moments to keep pace with George Washington.

Octavius Ellis was also key down the stretch. Ellis scored five of his nine points in the final 2:30 of the second half, after being quiet for most of the game. Ellis also reeled in two of his seven rebounds in the closing minutes as the Cincinnati defense buckled down with the game on the line.

While Cincinnati's defense had it's moments, George Washington was impressive shooting threes. The Colonials made a flurry of them, hitting 11-of-22 (50.0%). Cincinnati was less impressive from range, only hitting 7-of-22 (31.8%). George Washington was 21-of-56 (37.5%) from the field, while the Bearcats were 22-of-53 (41.5%).

Farad Cobb and Kevin Johnson contributed some timely shots for Cincinnati, each adding 11 points. Johnson was only 1-of-5 from beyond the arc, but went 5-of-9 from the field. Cobb wasn't particularly efficient, going 4-of-10 from the field and 3-of-7 from behind the three-point line. Cobb's shot remains a little off, although his contributions were key in this one. Gary Clark led the Bearcats with 11 rebounds on the game. Cincinnati pulled down key rebounds down the stretch while the Colonials were scrambling.

The Colonials were led in scoring by Patricio Garino, who scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and hitting 3-of-4 three pointers. Tyler Cavanaugh added 13 points and Joe McDonald scored 11.

Cincinnati, now 7-0 on the season, has a little break before a big matchup against the Butler Bulldogs on Wednesday, December 2.