Update, 9:01 p.m….Saint Joe’s came back to win this one, 61-59. Junior Rob Diggs had 20 points (10-for-10) and 10 rebounds while junior Wynton Witherspoon had 12 points and classmate Cheyenne Moore had 10 points. See gwhatchet.com tomorrow for a full recap.

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Update, 7:52 p.m…The first half just ended with the Colonials up 31-30. After starting out very slowly, GW hit a couple big shots and played some solid defense to creep back into the game and take the lead. Junior Rob Diggs leads the Colonials with 12 points while the Hawks’ Pat Calathes has 15 points.

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Update, 7:15 p.m….The Colonials are down 10-5 in the first five minutes of the game. The lower level of the student section has filled in. Interesting fact: one of the referees at tonight’s game, Gene Steratore, is also an official in the NFL.

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Update, 6:55 p.m….Comcast SportsNet just did a sideline interview with women’s coach Joe McKeown. Heather Schwartz, an assignment editor for SportsNet, told me that tonight is “GW Night” or something of the sort on the 10 p.m. SportsNite. McKeown notched his 499th win last night and will be going for no. 500 Saturday at Duquesne.

A couple minutes ago, Lunardi was walking to his seat at press row to the cheers and praise of the Saint Joe’s fans. I heard Lundari say, “They love me,” while pointing back to the fans and rolling his eyes. Being famous is so difficult.

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The Colonials (5-10, 1-4 Atlantic 10) welcome the Hawks (12-5, 4-1 A-10) to Smith Center. Saint Joe’s has lost three games on the road: at Syracuse, at Crieghton and at Charlotte, none of which are bad losses. GW has lost once at home this season, to Xavier.

There is more media than usual here tonight. The game is being broadcast on CN8, Comcast’s local news station, so both Comcast SportsNet and the CN8 people are here. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi is also sitting at the table next to me. He is here as a member of the Saint Joe’s press, as he does the Hawks’ radio broadcasts. Lunardi currently has four teams from the A-10 in his most recent NCAA tournament predictions, including Saint Joe’s.

Also here tonight: A-10 Commissioner Linda Bruno. This is Bruno’s last season in charge of the A-10; she announced in early December that after 13 seasons, she is leaving. I wonder why she chose to attend tonight’s game rather than the Xavier game.

It is currently 12 minutes to tip and not even half of the lower level of the student section is full. There are almost as many Saint Joe’s fans here as GW fans. The game was originally supposed to begin at 7:30, so perhaps the time switch is why there are fewer fans than normal.