Posted: Friday, Mar. 12, 10:55 p.m.
DAYTON, Ohio– In the end, veteran leadership prevailed over youthful exuberance, and as a result the miniscule bubble floating above the GW men’s basketball team popped Friday night. A veteran Xavier squad, fresh off an upset win over No. 1 (AP) St. Joseph’s, ran over the young Colonials 70-47 in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament.
Fifth-year senior Lionel Chalmers scorched GW (18-11) from outside, tying a career high with 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting. The guard hit six of Xavier’s 11 three-pointers, as his team’s outside shooting put the Colonials in an early hole. All-America candidate Romain Sato added 18 points, as the Musketeers (22-10) shot over 45 percent and held GW to under 31 percent for the game.
“I thought tonight we lost to a stronger, better, more experienced basketball team,” GW head coach Karl Hobbs said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t make any shots. I thought we had some terrific looks. Because we couldn’t make shots, it didn’t allow us to get into our full-court pressure.”
Junior guard T.J. Thompson, who appeared to break out of a recent shooting slump in GW’s past two games, struggled mightily on Friday, going scoreless in 19 minutes of play.
The loss dashed GW’s NCAA Tournament hopes, but a bid in the National Invitation Tournament looks likely. Despite the blowout loss Friday, Hobbs said his team should be proud of the way they played this season.
In the game’s final moments, he addressed his team on the bench.
“It was me just letting them know that they had a great year,” he said. “Because we have so many young guys and they don’t know how to respond to that situation. And I don’t want them to feel like because of the result of today’s game, it lessens what they’ve done.”
What the Colonials did this year was compile their first winning season since 1999. Despite key road losses to Fairfield University and Appalachian State University, GW won at Charlotte and recorded victories over Xavier and Dayton at home.
“Looking back, we believe we’ve been somewhat successful because we were picked to finish almost last,” said sophomore forward Mike Hall, who had 10 points Friday. “And we were a few games, a few slip-ups away from finishing first and getting rings.”
Friday’s slip-up came against a team that has won 11 of 12 games and defeated its past three opponents by an average of 23 points. Just like the last time these two teams met, GW struggled from the outside, hitting only three three-pointers on nine attempts.
Xavier coach Thad Matta knew his team could not look past GW, a team that beat the Musketeers by 21 points in January.
“When you play a team like GW, they’ve got so many weapons and so much depth,” he said. “It takes great focus. They’re one of the best teams in the country at getting on a run and staying on that run, as they did the first time we played them this year.”
The Musketeers hit eight three-pointers in the first half, which helped them build a 14-point lead by halftime. GW cut the lead to 42-31 early in the second, but that was as close as it would come.
After Xavier extended its lead to 48-31 with over 16 minutes to go, the Colonials cut the lead to 48-35. But the run was short-lived. Chalmers hit a three-pointer, Brandon Cole hit a short jumper and Sato connected from long range, extending Xavier’s lead to 56-35 with 11:50 left.
While the Musketeers will face either Dayton or Richmond in tomorrow night’s A-10 final, the Colonials will learn their postseason fate Sunday night when the NIT bids are announced.
“That’s not in our hands,” Hall said. “We have to wait and see if we get the call to go to the NIT. If not, then we have to start back to work for next year.”
A Penders sighting in Dayton
Former GW coach Tom Penders, who resigned in 2001, was in attendance as a member of the media for Friday’s game. Coming to Dayton to call Saturday’s championship game on Westwood One radio, Penders asked a question during the Xavier press conference but left the room before Hobbs and Hall came in, avoiding a potentially awkward situation. The former coach is a longtime friend of GW Director of Athletics Jack Kvancz and reportedly has a good relationship with Hobbs.
-Brian Costa contributed to this report.
