For the fourth time in the GW men’s basketball team’s five Atlantic 10 games, it was a matter of a few late-game possessions that made the difference in its meeting with Richmond this afternoon. Unfortunately for the Colonials, it was also the fourth time in as many games they came out on the losing end.
GW dropped its fourth straight game this afternoon at the Smith Center, falling to the Spiders by 62-57 score.
The Colonials (11-7, 1-4 A-10), who lost tight games to Xavier and La Salle to begin their current streak, trailed by three points with just under 20 seconds remaining. Sophomore Tony Taylor received the inbound pass on a play head coach Karl Hobbs said was designed to have freshman Lasan Kromah and senior Damian Hollis come free off screens a few seconds apart. Hobbs said Hollis “popped out a little too soon,” which threw off the timing of the play.
Taylor nonetheless passed the ball to Hollis, who dribbled around the perimeter looking for an opportunity before putting up a three-point shot while attempting to draw contact from a defender. No foul call was made and the shot missed, ending up in the hands of Richmond’s Kevin Anderson, who was fouled with 1.7 seconds left and made two free throws to arrive at the final score.
Rather than dwell on that single occurrence, Hobbs pointed out a number of “unforced errors” in the game’s final few minutes that resulted in his team’s small lead turning into a small margin of defeat.
“There were about 10 different plays that could have made the difference in the game,” Hobbs said.
Hollis, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder this season, played 17 minutes off the bench and spent much of the game in foul trouble, finishing with nine points and a team-high six rebounds, but also six of GW’s 18 turnovers. Hobbs praised Hollis’ effort and said the senior was limited by sore ribs, a condition that kept him out of practice the past two days and made his ability to play in the game questionable.
Taylor shouldered some of the scoring slack in his stead, scoring a team-best 16 points while also avoiding turning the ball over once. Freshman Bryan Bynes was second on the team with 11 points.
Despite the loss, Hobbs said he is not down on his team’s performance and is instead focusing on its continued improvement and the need to tighten up its late-game decision-making. He said the necessary intensity and effort are there and that there is plenty of time left to fix what’s been plaguing the team’s play of late.
“Yeah, we’re 1-4, but that’s okay,” Hobbs said. “I think we’ve got quite a few games left. We’ll see where we finish.”
GW will host Saint Louis Wednesday at 7 p.m.
