University of Richmond
George Washington
GW's Second-Half Run At The Foul Line Dooms Spiders
02/23/2008 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Richmond men's basketball team led by nine with 14 minutes to play, but an 18-2 run, including 14 free throws, helped George Washington pull out a 59-53 come-from-behind triumph over the Spiders on Saturday at the Smith Center.
George Washington trailed by seven at the half and made just six second-half field goals, but connected on 22-of-24 free throws in the second half.
Richmond (14-11, 7-5 Atlantic 10) dropped from second place into a tie for third with Temple, which lost to Fordham on Saturday. Second-place Saint Joseph's (7-4 Atlantic 10) plays at Rhode Island on Sunday.
The Spiders jumped out to quick 10 point leads at 14-4 and 16-6, but George Washington's Rob Diggs kept the Colonials in the game with 18 of his 20 points coming in the first half. Richmond led 32-25 at the half and led by nine after a layup by senior Oumar Sylla with 14:10 remaining.
That's when - as in road losses at Rhode Island and Saint Joseph's - the Spiders sent George Washington (8-14, 4-8 Atlantic 10) to the foul line repeatedly in the second half.
Damian Hollis made two free throws to cut the gap to seven and after a Noel Wilmore layup had the Colonials within five, GW would go to the foul line on four-straight possessions and make all eight free throws to take its first lead of the game at 41-40.
A Xavier Alexander layup broke the free throw march to make it 43-40, but Hollis went back to the line to make his 10th-straight free throw in a span of five minutes. Wynton Witherspoon made two free throws to make it 47-40 and added a layup to give the Colonials a 49-40 lead with 7:39 to play.
The Spiders came back to pull within two with 1:18 to play and trailed by three with 29 seconds left after a tip-in by Dan Geriot, but the Colonials continued making free throws - they sank 27-of-31 on the night - to ice the game.
Freshman Kevin Anderson led the Spiders with 12 points and grabbed five rebounds in 38 minutes. Sophomore David Gonzalvez had 11 points, while senior Gaston Moliva and sophomore Dan Geriot each had nine. Freshman Justin Harper had six points.
The Spiders head to Olean, N.Y. to face St. Bonaventure on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
