ATLANTIC CITY, March 9 – Somewhere here in this casino-laden town, the GW men’s basketball team seemed to find a treasure trove filled with tricks from last year’s success.

In that chest: an effective and swarming trapping defense, an up-tempo offense and big men that can bang with some of the strongest in the Atlantic 10.

With those seemingly irreplaceable trinkets was a game plan that forced St. Louis into 32.5 percent shooting and a hearty 20 turnovers as the third-seeded Colonials toppled the seventh-seeded Billikens 60-40 here in the A-10 semifinals.

The win pits GW against No. 4 Rhode Island Saturday night with an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line. A win Saturday will give GW its third consecutive NCAA tournament berth, a potential first for the program.

“We wanted to make sure the game was played at our pace and we were able to really extend our defense and force a good deal of turnovers,” said Karl Hobbs, GW’s head coach. “We’re obviously excited to be in the championship game.”

Brad Soderberg, St. Louis’ head coach, said he could blame several members of his team but GW’s halfcourt defense deserved the credit.

“We couldn’t solve the riddle of their halfcourt defense,” Soderberg said. “I don’t have an answer (to beat GW). We exhausted all of our different offensive attacks.”

The “55” trap, as it is called by the Colonials, exhausted the Billikens and forced them into 20 turnovers. GW denied St. Louis’ big man, Ian Vouyoukas (six points) the ball all game.

But for the Colonials, the flurrying trapping pressure begot fast breaks which allowed GW to play its trademarked fast-paced game. For the second consecutive night, junior Maureece Rice keyed in the win. His 22 points in 34 minutes seemed to baffle this Billiken squad, which won 20 games this season.

Senior Carl Elliott had 11 points, six rebounds and five steals. He moved into 23rd place in GW’s all-time scoring list, passing Mike Hall. Senior Regis Koundjia had seven points.

The Colonials will now have to turn its attention to Rhode Island. In its last meeting with the Rams on Jan. 27 in Kingston, R.I., the Colonials got 27 points from Rice and 18 from Elliott. The difference Saturday will be the presence of Darrell Harris, who was injured during the January meeting. Even without the big man, GW only managed one more rebound than Rhode Island.

Hobbs said he is most concerned with the Rams’ sharpshooter Jimmy Barron. Barron nailed three three pointers against Xavier in the semifinals.

“There’s no doubt in my mind if we come back in here tomorrow and Barron hits six threes, it’ll be a long bus ride home tomorrow,” Hobbs said.

Saturday’s game against Rhode Island tips off at Boardwalk Hall at 6:05 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN. The broadcast team will inclede Dave Barnett and Tim McCormick.

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