Nine Straight Losses for Men's Basketball

After finishing last season ranked thirteenth out of the 14 teams in the Atlantic 10 conference and failing to even participate in the conference tournament that they had won the previous year, many thought that the GW Men’s Basketball team had no where to go but up. Those hopes were briefly validated when the Men won 6 of their first 8 games this season. However, the team has yet to win a game in 2009.

Last night’s double overtime loss to Rhode Island was GW’s 9th consecutive defeat. The men’s team is now 6 and 11 for the season and 0 and 5 in conference play. The only team ranked lower in the Atlantic 10 is Fordham.

The Colonials were dominant for the first three-quarters of the game and briefly led Rhode Island by 12 points. However, URI tied the score with nine and a half minutes left in the second half. Neither team would lead by more than 5 points for the remainder of the game. Rhode Island’s Lamonte Ulmer scored a field goal with 35 seconds left in the second half to tie the game at 68 all. The only shot taken during GW’s final possession in regulation was a missed two-point jump shot by Wynton Witherspoon with 2 seconds left on the clock. The lack of scoring attempts in the final seconds made it obvious that head coach Karl Hobbs was looking to win overtime. The Colonials survived the first round of extra game play and with just 10 seconds left in the second overtime GW only needed one three-point shot to force another period. A foul on Aaron Ware gave Ulmer two free throws. Both shots were good and sealed the game for Rhode Island.

With only 11 games left in the regular season, GW needs to pick up some in conference wins if they want the trip to Atlantic City for the A-10 tournament. The Colonials’ next game is on Wednesday, January 28th at La Salle University.

-Joe Lewis