11:00 p.m. Certainly a fun way to start the season. GW maybe shouldn’t have won that game, but the persistence from new players and the old ones that struggled early should be good to see for coach Hobbs. Check the front page for a full story soon.
9:27 p.m GW wins, 63-58. More after the press conference.
9:25 p.m. GW up three, at the line, 10.5 seconds left.
9:22 p.m. GW up one on Hollis layup. Double-dribble on BU gives GW the ball with 31.2 seconds left.
9:21 p.m. BU’s Carlos Strong hits two from the line, BU by 1. 90 seconds to go.
9:20 p.m. Hollis hits 1-of-2 from the line, GW by 1.
9:18 p.m. Opoku converts a three-point play. Tied at 56, 2 minutes left.
9:16 p.m. GW has their heads back in it. Witherspoon off the glass for two, GW down three. 2:30 to go.
9:14 p.m. BU’s John Holland hits a three, Terriers by 5.
9:12 p.m. Now in overtime, BU out ahead by 2, 30 seconds into the period.
9:09 p.m. GW can’t convert and BU gets a breakaway layup. Tied at 51, we’re going to overtime.
9:07 p.m. GW makes a stop on D but almost gives it away. BU called out of bounds though. GW ball up two with 15 seconds left.
9:04 p.m. Diggs makes two big free throws. GW up 2 with 1:07 left. On the court, Witherspoon, Hollis, Alexander, Taylor, Ware.
9:03 p.m. Hollis has a huge steal, Hobbs calls timeout. GW ball in crunch time with two freshmen in the game.
9:00 p.m. Still tied at 49, 2 minutes left. BU passes out of bounds, GW ball.
8:55 p.m. Witherspoon off the glass for two. Tied at 49. BU timeout with 2:39 left.
8:54 p.m. Taylor just went down hard on his left knee. Witherspoon was helping him up immediately, but trainer Chris Duncan had to come out and attend to Taylor. Taylor, though is back in and shooting two. He misses both — GW down two 49-47, four minutes left.
8:53 p.m. GW down two, Terriers’ ball. This game just picked up intensity — and the crowd is back in it.
8:51 p.m. GW back up on a BIG three from Witherspoon.
8:48 p.m. Opoku makes two free throws to cut the lead to two, 44-42 with 7 minutes left.
8:42 p.m. Hobbs is upset with a call on the baseline. He gets a warning from the referee. GW down 44-40 with 8 minutes to go.
8:41 p.m. Diggs is having a tough time against Boston big man Jeff Pelage. Opoku now in the page in his spot.
8:35 p.m. Starters in for GW, down 6.
8:29 p.m. Hermann Opoku throws down a dunk and then goes and makes a block on the other end of the floor. BU’s John Holland has hits a three though, and the Terriers lead 41-35 with 12 to play.
8:24 p.m. Hollis, still with 0 points, just got called for another charge. Seemed like a flop for sure from our angle. Terriers up 37-33 with Diggs at the line.
8:22 p.m. GW down three 34-31 with 16 minutes left. Not sure what to make of this, but GW players have fallen a number of times tonight — specifically Alexander and Witherspoon. Alexander was just complaining to the referees that the court was slippery on the low blocks, but it’s been happening at multiple places on the floor.
8:17 p.m. Terriers up 32-27 two minutes into the second half. Taylor seems a little more timid this half, as he’s been moving the ball much slower up the court.
8:07 p.m. Also, COOLIO IS IN THE BUILDING. That is all.
8:00 p.m. BU up 29-24 at the half. A lot can be said about GW’s first half. Defensively, the Colonials were stifling at some points –– but they made a couple of huge mistakes that led to big baskets too. Rob Diggs and Damian Hollis combined for just 2 points on offense in the first half, but two three-pointers from Noel Wilmore, a few jumpers from Witherspoon and free throws from Taylor have limited the deficit to five.
On a separate note, BU is celebrating its 100th year of basketball this season, and they’re conducting a commemoration of the 1958-59 Terriers team that made the elite eight. GW “celebrated” its 100th anniversary last year.
7:54 p.m. The Terriers have widened their lead to 29-23 on an emphatic dunk after a Colonials’ miscue that left no defender back. BU certainly has the momentum going into halftime.
7:47 p.m. Terriers up 24-23 after GW got caught out of position in transition and surrendered a three-pointer from the baseline. Witherspoon has hit a few of his patented mid-range jumpers to keep GW going in the last few minutes.
7:41 p.m. Ball game now tied at 16 after a Boston floater from the free-throw line. The last stat update had GW with 9 turnovers — Boston with 2.
7:36 p.m. Peter Laplante now in for Rob Diggs. Colonials lead has been cut to two with 7 minutes left in the half.
7:32 p.m. Rob Diggs has been quite effective on D so far. He’s got at least three blocks in 11 minutes. Aaron Ware hasn’t come close to making a layup on one of his three slashes to the hoop, but the fact that he’s getting into the paint has to be a welcome sight for GW fans who were unhappy with the amount of perimeter passing GW employed last year.
7:28 p.m. Joseph Katuka in the game now, but he travels on his first step with the ball in the post. That’s the second time that’s happened to GW tonight, with Damian Hollis committing the walk in the first minutes of the game.
7:23 p.m. 12 minutes left in the first half with GW up 14-8. Tony Taylor has been sticking a hand in the face of BU’s point guard on every possession. His tight defense really seems to be helping the rest of the Colonials on defense, as the Terriers are having trouble getting getting good looks off the pass.
7:17 p.m. We’re at the first TV timeout with GW up 12-6. Multiple players have showed some moves both offensively and defensively. The BU crowd is loud, but if GW can keep the energy it’s had going, they can keep the crowd out of it.
7:13 p.m. A floater from Wynton Witherspoon and a three from Xavier Alexander have GW up 9-0. Travis King and Noel Wilmore just entered the game.
7:10 p.m. GW starting out with a full-court press on defense. Have a steal and a block so far, with Tony Taylor’s energy earning all four GW in free throws.
7:04 p.m. Starting lineups are correct. BU going all out on their player introductions. Tip off in two minutes –– estimated attendance is around 2500.
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Just three minutes until the kick off of the 2008-09 GW men’s basketball season at Agganis Arena in Boston. A large contingent of what appears to be Boston University seniors have filed in, each donning a white hard hat. (There was a seniors barbecue before the game, but rumor has it that the BU student section will be packed tonight as kids must attend the basketball game in order to receive a ticket for the Coolio concert later on tonight. I’m not kidding.)
GW game notes have probable starters as Xavier Alexander, Tony Taylor, Rob Diggs, Wynton Witherspoon, and Damian Hollis, with Travis King starting out on the bench.
