March 14, 2006

Colonials Sports Round-Up

Last Second Heroics

A pair of come-from-behind rallies and a crucial technical foul propelled George Washington Colonials to its first perfect Atlantic 10 season with a thrilling 86-85 overtime victory over the University of North Carolina-Charlotte March 4.

The last second tip in by junior Carl Elliot off an errant 3-point shot from freshman Noel Wilmore extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 18 games. The Colonials (26–1, 16–0) became only the fourth A-10 team to go undefeated in conference play, matching Temple in 1983–84 and 1987–88 and St. Joseph’s in 2003–04 with a perfect conference slate. With No. 1 Duke’s (27–2) loss to Florida State March 1, GW became the nation’s only Division 1 team with one loss.

“To end in such a dramatic fashion on these guys’ Senior Day, you couldn’t ask for a better way to close it out,” said Coach Karl Hobbs. “They deserve full credit for it. They worked hard all game. And with all due respect to Charlotte, who I thought played an excellent game.”

GW got a huge break in the final 10 seconds of overtime when Charlotte was assessed a technical foul. Play was stopped after an altercation between the 49ers’ Leemire Goldwire and GW’s senior forward Mike Hall with 5.7 seconds left, following a miss by sophomore guard Maureece Rice, with the score 84–82.

Officials reviewed video of the play for several minutes and Hall was called for a foul, while Goldwire was given a technical for intentionally hitting Elliott with his elbow. De’Angelo Alexander made one of two free throws for Charlotte, and Hall made both free throws for GW. The Colonials were awarded possession, setting up the dramatic finish.

Rice, who lead GW with 16 points, sent the game into overtime with an off-balance 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left in regulation.

The Colonials won their last three contests without senior center Pops Mensah-Bonsu, dubbed “The Mayor of Foggy Bottom” during pre-game Senior Day ceremonies. GW’s second-leading scorer and rebounder underwent successful arthroscopic knee surgery on Feb. 28. The procedure was performed by renowned sports orthopedist Dr. James Andrews of Birmingham, AL.

“I arthroscoped Pops [Tuesday] morning and removed a small portion of cartilage from the inner side of his left knee [medial meniscus],” Andrews said in a statement released by the team. “We anticipate a rapid rehab and full recovery and we expect he will be ready for the NCAA tournament.”

Women’s Team Falls in A-10 Championship

GW’s women’s basketball team (22–8) lost to No. 22/20 Temple (59–54) in the A-10 Championship game for the second-straight season. The team defeated A-10 Tournament host Saint Joseph’s, 53–51, in front of 3,009 fans to advance to the conference championship March 5. Sarah-Jo Lawrence led the Colonials in their semifinal victory with 14 points, to set up the rematch with Temple.

The Colonials hope to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament based on its strength of schedule and key wins against nationally ranked teams, Purdue (no. 19) Nov. 25, and twice against Temple (no. 19) Jan. 11 and Feb. 24.

GW was the A-10 regular season co-champions along with Charlotte marking the fifth-straight season the team has finished the season atop the conference. This is the Colonials seventh straight season with at least 20 victories and would be GW’s fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance and 10th over the last 12 years.

A-10 Gets Dialed in for Next Season

The A-10 recently signed new media deals with both ESPN and CSTV Networks, a media company owned by CBS.

Under the ESPN deal, ESPN and ESPN2 will have first selection rights for eight men’s basketball games and one women’s basketball game each year, while ESPNU will offer six additional men’s games and one additional women’s game. The basketball conference championship will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2. The deal also allows for other A-10 match-ups to be run on ABC Sports.

The deal with CSTV gives the company media and marketing rights for all A-10 sports, including TV, radio, video-on-demand, Internet, and exclusive corporate sponsorship and licensing rights to all A-10 sports during the regular season and post-season championships. CSTV also receives exclusive rights for most A-10 championships, with the notable exceptions being men’s and women’s basketball.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu