The Colonials had just turned the ball over for the 17th of 18 times with a shot clock violation when senior guard Joe McDonald stole it back of Saint Louis’ inbounds pass. Clutching the ball, McDonald was immediately fouled, and stepped up to the line to put the game away. He missed both free throws.
Then, Billikens guard Mike Crawford trotted down the court and, wide open, sank his third three-pointer of the night to put Saint Louis ahead for good. Crawford hit two free throws and the Colonials couldn’t get anything with the two possessions that followed, and Saint Louis dealt GW its first loss of the A-10 season, 65-62.
“The most disappointing thing is, we were switching everything, I told them no threes,” head coach Mike Lonergan said. “If they tie it, fine. We get the last shot or go to overtime and we leave their best shooter, Crawford, wide open for a three. And that’s right off a time out where it’s the last thing we wanted to do.”
But despite the crunch time meltdown, the Colonials had problems earlier. GW finished with 18 turnovers, and hit just 12-of-22 free throws. Saint Louis got 12 points from the charity stripe on just 14 attempts.
“We knew their offense was motion, they were going to move a lot,” McDonald said. “And when they got the opportunity to drive, straight lines, straight line drives, it’s hard not to foul if you want to try and stop them. We’ve got to do a better job of staying in front and I don’t think we did as a team.”
And despite McDonald’s missed free throws, he provided a spark for the Colonials many times when they needed one, including out of halftime when he hit two consecutive three-pointers to stretch out GW’s lead. McDonald finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two turnovers and two steals in 36 minutes. He was one of four Colonials to score in double figures, along with Kevin Larsen (14 points, six rebounds, five turnovers), Patricio Garino (13 points, seven rebounds, four turnovers, two blocks) and Tyler Cavanaugh (11 points, five rebounds).
GW went into halftime up 30-26, after a first half effort that should have been more lopsided than it was. The Colonials shot 58 percent from the field while holding the Billikens to 33 percent and outrebounding them 22-8, but 14 first-half turnovers kept GW from building a lead.
Saint Louis led by four with 6:43 left until halftime, but the Colonials then went on a 10-0 run that held the Billikens scoreless for over six minutes before Brett Jolly sent home a two-handed flush with less than a minute before halftime to end the drought for Saint Louis.
Ultimately it was GW who ended the game without having scored in nearly four minutes. The Colonials tried first to get the ball to Garino, who could put his head down and drive to the basket, but he traveled on his way there. On GW’s final possession Lonergan wanted Cavanaugh to pass to McDonald for a three, but Cavanaugh didn’t see a passing lane and instead passed to Garino who tried a 30-footer that was well off the mark.
Lonergan, though, was more upset by the defensive lapses.
“When you have an eight point lead you don’t really have to score if you stop the other team a couple times,” he said.
The Billikens got the biggest boost from Crawford, who led all scorers with 20 points. He shot 7-for-9 from the field, 3-for-5 on three-pointers and 3-for-4 from the free throw line.
“The list can go on,” McDonald said. “It was frustrating, especially, we thought we had a good chance with the amount of experience we have I felt like we should have handled it. I know I didn’t handle it myself as well and I don’t think as a team we did and we just didn’t make the plays that we needed to.”
It all amounted to a loss to a Saint Louis team, now 6-8 overall, expected to finish near the bottom of the Atlantic 10 conference. The Colonials are now 1-1 in A-10 play, just like the Billikens, and 11-3 overall.
There is little time to dwell on the loss, however, as GW returns to the Smith Center to take on Duquesne on Saturday.
“We’ve got to move on,” McDonald said. “But right now, this one was tough.”
