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Men's Basketball
Bonnies fall to 21st ranked Colonials, 85-59
Jan. 12, 2005
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - A decided underdog to start, St. Bonaventure found that playing short-handed against 21st-ranked George Washington was too much to overcome and the Colonials posted a 85-59 win in an Atlantic 10 Conference match-up on Wednesday night at the Reilly Center. The Colonials, who are ranked 21st in this week's Associated Press poll and 22nd in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll, won for the 11th time in their last 12 games and moved to 11-2. GW remained unbeaten in the Atlantic 10 at 3-0. The Bonnies hung with the Colonials over the opening 10 minutes and took a 20-18 lead on back-to-back three-pointers by junior guard Wade Dunston, the second coming at the 9:44 mark. George Washington, however, scored the next seven points to take a lead they would not relinquish. The Colonials closed the first half with an 11-1 run and led 40-27 at halftime. George Washington continued to build on its lead early in the second half, pushing it to a 53-33 margin on a reverse layin by Omar Williams with 14:22 remaining. The Colonials' lead grew as large as 31. "We played a good first 17 minutes or so, but we gave the ball away and let (GW) finish the first half with a run," said Bonnies coach Anthony Solomon. "Easy points against a top-25 team are not a recipe for success." Turnovers doomed the Bonnies' chances of an upset, as the home team committed 23 giveaways. The Colonials finished the night with 13 steals, while only committing 15 total turnovers.
St. Bonaventure was without its leading scorer, junior forward Patrick Lottin, as well as sophomore forward Brian Gibbs. Lottin, who averages 12.5 points per game, sat out the game due to a hamstring pull while Gibbs was suffering from the flu.
The Bonnies shot 40 percent (21-53) from the field and 42 percent (5-12) from three-point land. On the other end, the Colonials hit 54 percent (35-65) of their shots, while shooting 27 percent (4-15) from long range. Dunston led the Bonnies with a career-high 25 points to go with six boards, as the Colonials outrebounded the Bonnies 38-31. The Washington, D.C., native made 10 of his 19 shots from the field including three out of four from long range. Freshman Michael Lee and senior Saulius Dumbliauskas chipped in with nine and six points, respectively. Lee, who started in place of Lottin, also grabbed six rebounds while Dumbliauskas snagged five. George Washington held St. Bonaventure junior guard Ahmad Smith, who had averaged 18 points over the previous four games, to five points on 2-8 shooting. Smith did have three rebounds. "Any time you're the primary focus, as Ahmad has become, you receive a lot of (defensive) attention," Solomon said. "I don't judge Ahmad by his point total because he does so much for our team." The Colonials put six players in double-figures, led by forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu with 14 points, while J.R. Pinnock ripped down a team-high eight rebounds to go with 10 points off the bench. The Bonnies fell to 1-13 overall and 0-3 in conference play. Still, St. Bonaventure's effort and hustle while undermanned impressed Solomon and the GW players. "We had two and three guys diving on the floor for loose balls, and we were even (11-11) with GW on the offensive boards," Solomon said. "If we can keep working that hard, we will improve." "It's hard to believe (St. Bonaventure) only has one win," Mensa-Bonsu said in the post-game press conference. "They play hard and rebound well. I don't see them as a one-win team, not after tonight." "As I've said before, it will not happen overnight," Solomon said, "and there will be tough days. But I was proud of our team effort tonight." The Bonnies are off until next Wednesday, Jan. 19, when they will visit Temple at 7:00. |
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