George Washington University

Feb. 22, 2013

GW Notes at Saint Joseph's (2/23/13)

WHO: GW Men's Basketball (12-12, 6-5 Atlantic 10)
WHAT: Game #25, Atlantic 10 Game #12 vs. Saint Joseph's Hawks (14-10, 5-6 A-10)
WHERE: Michael J. Hagan Arena (4,200), Philadelphia, Pa.
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 23 at 4:00 p.m.
TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus, The Comcast Network Philadelphia (Scott Graham, Joe Lunardi)
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VIDEO: RaiseHigh.tv
AUDIO: FederalNewsRadio.com, RaiseHigh.tv, 1500/820 AM (Byron Kerr) | WRGW Sports
STATS: GameTracker
TWITTER: @GW_MBB | #RaiseHigh
PROMOTION: GW Athletics and Alumni Reception at SJU's Mandeville Hall dining room at 2 p.m. - Details
Watch Party at Hill Country BBQ in Chinatown - Details

The Last Meeting

SAINT JOSEPH'S	73
George Washington	66

February 18, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC - SMITH CENTER

GW Men's Hoops Rally Falters Against Saint Joseph's, 73-66 WASHINGTON - Playing in front of its largest home crowd of the season at Charles E. Smith Center, George Washington men's basketball nearly erased a 17-point halftime deficit, but failed to get any closer than four in a 73-66 loss to Saint Joseph's in Atlantic 10 action on Saturday.

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

PHILADELPHIA - George Washington makes its first of two trips to Philadelphia in the next two weeks with a visit to Saint Joseph's on Saturday. The contest will be televised live on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic Plus and The Comcast Network Philadelphia, broadcast live on FederalNewsRadio.com and 1500/820 AM, and streamed live on RaiseHigh.tv.

GW moved to a tie for seventh in the A-10 standings at 6-5 with a 68-60 victory over Fordham on Wednesday night. The win was the 346th in GW's 500th all-time game at the Charles E. Smith Center, the facility it has called home since 1975. The victory was also the 399th of head coach Mike Lonergan's 20-year coaching career (399-189). Lonergan trails only Temple's Fran Dunphy (462) and La Salle's Dr. John Giannini (434) as the A-10's winningest head coaches.

Freshman forward Kevin Larsen led all scorers and set a new career-high with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting in Wednesday's win over Fordham, while guard Lasan Kromah chipped in 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and four steals in 29 minutes off the bench. GW forced Fordham into 22 turnovers with a season-high 17 steals, which it turned into a season-best 27 points off turnovers. The Colonials also held large advantages in points in the paint (44-20), second-chance points (20-7) and bench points (28-11).

GW has lost two straight to Saint Joseph's following a 73-66 home loss in February 2012. The Colonials trimmed a 17-point halftime deficit to four on three separate occasions in the last meeting, but the Hawks pulled away for the win. GW's last victory in the series came at Hagan Arena in January 2011, a 78-71 triumph.

GW will be without reserve guard Bryan Bynes for the rest of the 2012-13 season as the senior suffered a fracture to his right tibial plateau in Wednesday's victory over Fordham. "This is really an unfortunate situation for Bryan, and is not the way our coaches and teammates wanted his senior season to end," said Coach Lonergan. "Bryan had really stepped up his contributions in Atlantic 10 play, and now we're going to need other players to step up in his place to help us reach our goal of playing for the A-10 Championship in Brooklyn next month."

Saint Joseph's has been idle for a week since a 76-64 loss against Big 5 rival La Salle at The Palestra last Saturday. The Hawks shot a blistering 63 percent in the second half and 53 percent for the game, but the Explorers countered with a 73 percent effort in the second period and 62 percent for the game to clinch a share of the Big 5 title.

SJU forward Ronald Roberts posted his Atlantic 10-leading 12th double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds against La Salle, while Halil Kanacevic led the Hawks with 16 points in 25 minutes off the bench and Langston Galloway added 12 points and five steals.

Coach Phil Martelli relies mainly on a six-player rotation in which each player averages at least 28 minutes per game. Guard Carl Jones leads four double-digit scorers at 14.6 points per game, with Galloway adding 13.3, Roberts providing 11.3 and forward C.J. Aiken chipping in 11.1. Roberts is the A-10's leading rebounder at 8.8 boards per game and Aiken paces the league in blocks at 2.9 per game, both narrowly edging Isaiah Armwood's 8.7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks an outing.

The preseason A-10 favorite, SJU is currently tied for 10th in the league standings at 5-6 in conference play. At 14-10 overall, the Hawks boast RPI top 100 victories over Notre Dame, Harvard, Xavier and Temple, while seven of their 10 losses have come against teams currently inside the top 100 of the RPI.

The Colonials make their second trip to Richmond in 11 days next Wednesday to face the Richmond Spiders at 7:00 p.m. The contest will be broadcast live on FederalNewsRadio.com, RaiseHigh.tv and 1050 AM.