Last Feb. 26, St. Bonaventure guard Marques Green racked up 32 points in his team’s overtime victory against the GW men’s basketball team. A year later, freshman Carl Elliott dished out a Smith Center record 14 assists to lead the Colonials over the Bonnies 102-78 Wednesday night, while Green managed 21 points on 8-for-19 shooting.
Elliott had six points and six rebounds to go with his 14 assists, which fell one shy of the school record.
He also covered the 5-foot-7-inch Green for portions of the game along with freshman guard J.R. Pinnock, who tied a career-high with 21 points to lead GW (12-8, 6-3 Atlantic 10).
“(Green) is one of the most underrated players in the country,” Pinnock said. “He’s the hardest person I’ve ever had to guard in my short college career. All week he’s what the (coaches) talked about. We wanted to use our length to guard him.”
GW Head Coach Karl Hobbs said he was pleased with his team’s effort to limit Green’s touches and shots after he torched the Colonials last season.
“I was absolutely scared to death of (Green) after last year’s game,” he said. “We didn’t want him to control the tempo of the game. We wanted to pressure him when he did have the ball and force him to pass it up.”
Hobbs also praised the work of junior guard T.J. Thompson, who along with Pinnock and sophomore forward Mike Hall shadowed Green for most of the game.
“T.J. stepped it up and was mentally ready for the challenge from the defensive standpoint,” he said. “Today he knew what was important.”
In addition to strong defensive work, Thompson scored 12 points and had four assists. Six Colonials finished in double figures. GW’s 102-point output and 24-point margin of victory were both season highs.
One unlikely contributor for the Colonials was seldom-used sophomore center Alex Kireev, who scored a career-high 12 points in his second start of the year.
“The assistants have been all over me,” Hobbs said, “saying, ‘Get Alex in the game.’ I thought he was terrific tonight especially in the first half – very poised, didn’t rush it up in a panic state. I’m very happy for him.”
Kireev scored eight of his 12 points in a first half that saw the Colonials quickly take control. They used an 18-7 run to build a 32-17 lead midway through the first half and further extended it to 49-31 at the break.
The Bonnies opened the second half on a 9-1 run to cut the GW lead to 50-40 but that was as close as they would get. Up 10, the Colonials went on a 17-6 run that put them up 69-46 with 11:52 left in the game.
With the win, GW remains in second place in the A-10 West behind Dayton, who beat Richmond 62-57 Wednesday. The Colonials remain two games ahead of the Spiders, who fell to 4-4 in conference play.
The Colonials are just three wins away from an undefeated home season, with their next home game coming Saturday at 4 p.m. against Rhode Island (14-8, 3-5 A-10).
