ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – St. Bonaventure head coach Anthony
Solomon wants to know, “Why not?” Why can’t the Bonnies compete
with the sixth-ranked (ESPN/USA Today poll) George Washington
Colonials?

They can. And they did.

While most fans would admit to expecting a GW victory, they
would not have expected the game to be as close or as thrilling as
it turned out to be, with the Colonials pulling out an 89-78
Atlantic 10 triumph Wednesday night.

George Washington came into the game 24-1 overall, 14-0 in A-10
play and in possession of the nation’s longest winning streak at 16
games (now 25-1, 15-0 and 17 games).

The Bonnies looked to snap that streak from the get-go,
controlling the tip and playing the visitors tough, despite falling
down 11-4 three minutes in.

Senior Patrick Lottin was able to keep the hosts in it on Senior
Night with a pair of timely trifectas.

Then with 12:59 to go, Paul Williams electrified the Reilly
Center with a thunderous two-handed slam despite being fouled. He
buried the freebie and it was 18-17 GW.

Senior Ahmad Smith’s tip-in and a two-handed flush by Michael
Lee knotted the teams at 21-all with 10:09 to go in the first
half.

The Colonials put together a 13-4 run to open up a 34-25
advantage by the 4:38 mark of the half.

SBU, however, would not lie down.

Tyler Relph buried a three and Lee converted an offensive
rebound into two points for a 34-30 score.

GW’s Omar Williams seemed to post the final basket of the first
20 minutes when he skied for an offensive rebound and executed an
emphatic dunk to make it 40-35.

Then after time had expired on the first, GW coach Karl Hobbs
received a technical foul. SBU was already in the locker room, but
Relph was retrieved to shoot the free throws and he made both.

Just 30 seconds into the second half, Relph kept the momentum
going for Bona when he splashed a 3 from the corner and it was
40-40.

A three-point play by Smith made it 43-40 SBU with 18:47 left to
play.

The teams then swapped leads until Terron Diggs canned one from
deep for a 52-48 edge.

Minutes later a Smith follow gave the Bonnies their largest
margin at 56-50. By the 7-minute mark SBU led 65-61, but the
Colonials had seen enough.

From here GW scored 11 straight points and came up with a couple
of key plays to live up to its Top 10 billing and pull out the
win.

“We were able to get one or two key turnovers and I thought that
was the only difference in the game,” said Hobbs. “We were pretty
nervous, but thank God for our experience, because that was the
only difference.”

Hobbs emphasized that his team was not looking past the (now)
8-18 Bonnies.

“We knew we were in for a tough game tonight,” Hobbs declared.
“I watched their game tape against UMass and I was scared to death.
I told them this (SBU) is a very, very dangerous team.

“St. Bonaventure played a tremendous game. I was so, so
impressed with St. Bonaventure tonight.”

Solomon expressed similar pride in his team’s effort.

“It would be hard for this coaching staff, our fans and this
university not to be proud of the effort that our young men put in
tonight versus the No. 6 team in the country,” Solomon said.

“GW made some big shots when they needed to and that’s what good
teams do. Our inability to come up with a couple more key
rebounding opportunities cost us under eight minutes to go.

“I’m very appreciative of the commitment and effort by our
seniors (Smith, Lottin, Wade Dunston),” Solomon noted. “It was
great the way our fans showed their appreciation as they finished
their last game on the RC floor. It certainly was a great
atmosphere – our students were great.

“It was a very good team effort,” Solomon continued. “Our young
men performed in the game believing they could win and executed the
game plan at a high level. That’s all you can ask. We didn’t get
what we came for, but we went head-to-head with one of the better
teams in the country.”

The loss eliminates Bona from competing in the A-10 tournament,
but Solomon said, “We certainly have improved down the
stretch.”

Still, the Bonnies don’t want to win next week, next month or
next year. They want to win now.

“I wanted us to be as high as possible tonight,” Solomon
related. “Why not? We have nothing to lose. We had the No. 6 team
in the country in our building – why not be sky high?

“We do dream. We dream a lot. Why not? You can’t do anything
about previous games other than learn from them and we certainly
played like we had big dreams tonight.”