4:32 p.m. Wilmore is blocked the next time down the floor and Rhode Island holds on for the 94-89 win in three overtimes (correction: two overtimes. I got ahead of myself). GW has now lost nine straight, with the last four being by a total of 16 points.

4:28 p.m. Wilmore goes to the line for three shots with GW trailing by four and makes all three. Rhode Island ball with a 90-89 lead and 30 seconds left.

4:25 p.m. Wilmore drains a three off the inbound pass, but Rhode Island answers with a basket at the other end. With exactly one minute remaining, the Rams lead 88-86. GW has the ball and the possession arrow is in their favor.

4:23 p.m. Rhode Island leads 86-83 after a goaltending three-point play. GW has called timeout with possession under their own basket and 1:23 on the clock.

4:20 p.m. Two minutes to go now and the game is tied at 83 after Lee makes one of two free throws. Edwards is playing at center now with Opoku having four fouls.

4:18 p.m. Lee with another three puts GW ahead but Seawright ties it up 81-81 with three minutes left. Hollis looks exhausted, bending over and putting his hands on his knees at every stoppage in play.

4:13 p.m. The Colonials have the ball for the final shot again and this time Lee holds it until the final seconds before dribbling inside the arc and forcing a contest shot that falls short. Opoku can’t hold onto the offensive rebound and the clock expires, sending us to a second overtime with the game tied 76-76.

4:11 p.m. Hobbs calls a timeout to set up GW’s half-court offense after Seawright ties it up at 76. There’s 1:12 left and 24 seconds on the shot clock.

4:08 p.m. Baron hits a transition three to put URI in front, then Hollis answers on the other end to take the lead back for the Colonials. It’s 76-74 GW with just over two minutes to play and this is shaping up to be some game.

4:07 p.m. Aaron Ware with the nice drive and the foul, but Seawright does the same on the other end to keep pace. GW leads 73-71 with 3:17 left.

4:02 p.m. Quite the start to overtime as Lee drives and scores on an off-balance, two-handed layup and Wilmore collects a block from behind on a jumper on the other end. Timeout Rams on a loose ball scramble and GW leads 70-68 with 4:14 on the clock.

3:59 p.m. We’re heading to overtime as GW cannot score on its last possession. Witherspoon held the ball at his waist near the mid-court logo until there were less than 10 seconds to play, dribbled toward the three-point line and missed a jumper. The ball bounced up and hit the shot clock with 1.5 seconds left but the Rams’ final chuck fell short.

3:56 p.m. Hollis hits two free throws then Lamonte Ulmer answers on the other end. The score is knotted 68-68 with 35.3 seconds left and GW in possession of the ball coming out of a timeout.

3:52 p.m. Wilmore is fouled on a three-point attempt and makes all three shots to tie the game up at 66 with less than 90 to go.

3:48 p.m. Marquis Jones hits his first basket of the game – a three from the corner – to put the Rams back in front 64-63 with 2:31 left. It probably goes without saying, but this has been a very see-saw half of basketball.

3:44 p.m. No Diggs is apparently no problem when you have Johnny Lee. The walk-on fan favorite hits a three to regain the lead and then draws a charge on the other end of the floor. The Colonials are up 63-61 with 3:35 remaining. The fans are very much back into it after largely dying down for a stretch of time.

3:42 p.m. Diggs fouls out on a charge call in the post, for which the officials drew the fans’ ire and and Diggs received applause and a chant. The Rams lead 61-60 with less than five to play.

3:40 p.m. And just like that the Rams are back in the lead as Delroy James hits a three over Johnny Lee to give URI a 61-58 advantage with 5:49 to go. Diggs is back in the game now, being relieved by Opoku on defense when possible.

3:37 p.m. A three from Diggs (yes, Diggs) puts the Colonials back in front, with Diggs adding to the lead with two free throws on the next possession to make it a 58-55 GW lead with 7:12 to play. Opoku then came in for Diggs, who has four fouls.

3:33 p.m. Diggs gets blocked from behind on his next dunk attempt and then fouled the next time down the floor, where he hits both shots. GW now trails 55-53 with eight minutes remaining.

3:28 p.m. Baron ties it up at 49 with a pair of free throws at Diggs re-enters the game despite foul trouble to slam home an alley-oop and put GW back in front 51-49 with 9:45 to play.

3:25 p.m. Things have certainly tightened up here with 10:51 to play and GW now leading just 49-47. URI has had a few possessions to tie it up or take the lead – Baron missed a three that would have done the latter – and the Colonials haven’t been able to generate many good looks on offense. King tried to force something their last time down the floor, but missed at the basket and the Rams came away with the ball. Wilmore has yet to take a shot this half after making four of five in the first half.

3:20 p.m. More foul trouble for GW as Diggs picks up his fourth after scoring on the other end. He’s been replaced by Hermann Opoku, who had a nice fast-break dunk in the first half that I meant to mention before.

3:12 p.m. It took a little while, but Jimmy Baron has shown up. He just hit consecutive threes from opposite corners, with long jumpers from Hollis and Diggs keeping GW in front 45-39 with 15:55 to play. Witherspoon and URI’s Kahiem Seawright just picked up technical fouls for what appeared to be some post-play jawing.

2:51 p.m. The Colonials go into halftime with a 37-30 lead, but the last minute was not the best way to end an otherwise very encouraging half. The Rams were able to grab an offensive rebound off a missed foul shot before getting to the line again, where they were only able to make one of two shots. On GW’s last possession, they appeared to be setting up a screen off the ball for Wilmore to take the last shot, but Lee had the ball stolen from him just before time expired.

Wilmore leads all scorers with 11 at the break and Hollis and Ware have added eight and six points, respectively. King and Witherspoon are the team’s leading rebounders with four apiece.

Witherspoon entered today’s game as perhaps the team’s best player during A-10 play, averaging 15.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game after being benched for the team’s entire Pacific road trip in late December. He’s scored five and grabbed four boards so far today, but his shot has been off to the tune of 2-of-8 shooting and he already has three personal fouls. The Colonials are getting contributions from enough other places to compensate for now, but may need Witherspoon to step up – not to mention stay out of foul trouble – if they are going to keep their lead over the last 20 minutes.

2:39 p.m. Wilmore scores on a layup and then makes one of three free throws after being fouled beyond the arc by Baron. He has 11 points and GW is up 29-20 at the 4:45 mark. Also, Jabari Edwards came into the game, marking his first appearance on the Smith Center court in a regular season game.

2:36 p.m. Noel Wilmore, who punished URI last year, just hit a three from the corner and a 15-footer off a pump-fake from the three-point line to put GW up 26-16. He’s leading all scorers with eight points now.

2:32 p.m. The Rams had a short burst of scoring, but a Hollis three and a strong one-handed dunk from Ware gives GW a 21-15 advantage with 7:11 left until halftime. Ware caught an outlet pass from Hollis near midcourt and had Diggs running alongside him as he went to the hoop, but opted to take it himself. Ware and Hollis are a combined 4-for-6 from the floor, with the rest of the Colonials making just four of their 13 shots.

2:28 p.m. The Colonials now lead 16-9 with 9:36 remaining before the break. Johnny Lee had a great end-to-end score out of the last timeout. He later tried to lob up an alley-oop to Witherspoon, who couldn’t finish it but grabbed his own rebound to score anyway.

2:22 p.m. GW draws the charge on a Jamal Wilson drive, leading to an official timeout at the 11:54 mark with the Colonials leading 12-7. Witherspoon hit a three, but couldn’t finish the layup on a fast break and missed one of his signature mid-range jumpers on the last possession. Things have slowed down a bit, with GW still trying to run but not being quite as able. Taylor has two fouls so far and has been replaced by Johnny Lee. Also worth noting: Jimmy Baron has yet to attempt a shot. King was guarding him pretty tightly before.

2:15 p.m. Only 35 seconds have lapsed since the last update but the Colonials now lead 9-6 at the 15:25 mark. Aaron Ware had a nice drive to the hole for a basket, a much better result than his first time trying to do so when he was greeted at the hoop by a defender and a blocked shot. GW appears to be turning up the game tempo, getting out and running on offense and playing an aggressive press on defense. It’s a similar start to the Dayton game in terms of pace and we’ll have to see if it can keep up as the game wears on.

2:12 p.m. GW leads 7-4 four minutes into the game, with Noel Wilmore hitting a three for their last basket and Wilmore and Taylor each getting steals while GW presses the Rams on defense.

2:04 p.m. Starting Colonials: Tony Taylor, Travis King, Damian Hollis, Wynton Witherspoon, and Rob Diggs.

–

Good afternoon and welcome to the live blog for a semi-rare Sunday afternoon contest here at Smith Center. The Colonials are currently in the midst of an eight-game losing streak that includes all four of their A-10 contests to date. Today they welcome Rhode Island, who is only 1-3 in conference play and 12-7 overall. All three of those league losses have been close for the Rams, falling in overtime at Saint Joseph’s, by two at home to nationally-ranked Xavier and by three at Richmond. Their lone A-10 win came in a 98-67 home blowout of Fordham.

URI is led in scoring by senior guard Jimmy Baron, son of head coach Jim Baron, a three-point specialist averaging 17.1 points per game. He became the school’s all-time leader in three-pointers made on Jan. 18 and connected from deep eight times in a nationally-televised 82-79 loss at Duke earlier this season. Senior Kahiem Seawright leads the team in rebounds per game with 6.7 and also averages 13.7 points.