KINGSTON, R.I. – For a brief time Saturday afternoon, it seemed rather recent history might rather improbably repeat itself.
After trailing host Rhode Island by as much as 16 before halftime, the GW men’s basketball team turned up the defensive pressure and planted the seeds of another potential comeback. Sophomore Tony Taylor, catalyst of the team’s overtime win its last time on the floor, poured in 18 of his career-best 22 points after halftime and the Colonials cut the deficit to as little as three.
But it would ultimately be a case of too little, too late.
The Rams withstood GW’s rally, perhaps showing a bit of why they might be dancing come March, and held on to beat the insurgent Colonials 72-66.
GW (12-8, 2-5 Atlantic 10) fell behind Rhode Island early, trailing 32-16 after the game’s first 14 minutes as Rhode Island forced them to turn the ball over and knocked down four three-pointers to take control of the game.
The 12-point swing in that category – GW missed its only two three-point tries in the first half – was a key factor in the Rams owning an 11-point lead going into the break. Helping their cause was an eight-point advantage in the paint and an identical advantage in fast-break scoring.
Two of the Colonials’ primary scorers – Taylor and senior Damian Hollis – combined to make just three of 15 first-half shot attempts as GW shot less than 39 percent over the first 20 minutes.
Things began to change, however, once Taylor and a pair of freshmen – Lasan Kromah and Dwayne Smith – found their offensive groove in the second half to cut Rhode Island’s advantage to single digits. Kromah and Smith, who finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively, each had key scoring bursts while Taylor seemed to regain the stroke that had betrayed him before halftime.
There were several instances, however, when GW appeared on the verge of a breakthrough, forcing a turnover or getting a defensive stop, only to turn the ball over themselves and hand it back to Rhode Island.
With the Colonials trailing by eight at one point in the second half, for example, they forced the Rams to turn the ball over on three straight possessions. The first ended with GW throwing the ball away, the second in a missed layup, and the third, finally, in a basket.
All told, GW turned the ball over 20 times, 11 of which came immediately after Rhode Island scored and six of which came after the Colonials had forced the Rams to turn it over themselves.
“Those were critical possessions,” head coach Karl Hobbs said. “I thought if we could have finished off those possessions we would have been fine.”
Thus, by the time Taylor caught fire down the stretch, scoring seven of his points on three straight jumpers in the game’s final 1:35, GW was running out of time. Similar to Sunday’s win over Saint Louis, the second-year guard provided a spark that kept the Colonials alive, though he was hesitant to embrace the idea that he consciously took over any sort of crunch-time scoring role.
“Whatever my team needs I’m just here to give them,” Taylor said. “I guess today it was scoring again and we just came up short.”
“I guess I was feeling it a little bit,” he admitted a few moments later.
A three by Rhode Island’s Keith Cothran with just more than a minute left put GW’s back to the wall, increasing the Rams’ lead to eight and forcing the Colonials to begin to foul in order to regain possession.
Though Rhode Island wasn’t perfect from the line, making three of five shots, it was enough to keep them ahead of GW until time ran out and the Rams walked away with the win, their 17th in 20 games this season.
The Colonials’ 20 turnovers in the game matched their highest single-game total of the season, previously reached in wins against Boston University and Princeton in November. Taylor suggested the turnovers were a result of the team’s up-tempo style of play, something they were able to reign in as the game wore on, and said that he and his teammates will iron things out as the season progresses.
“We’re moving so fast, mistakes happen all the time,” he said. “As the games go by, we’ll get it right.”
GW will next travel to Charlotte Wednesday, with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.
