Colonials enjoy success in top 10

George Washington had little time to bask in its nationally televised victory against Xavier — its first as a top-10 team in 50 seasons.

Less than 72 hours after a 17-point comeback in Cincinnati against perhaps their top competition in the Atlantic 10, the 10th-ranked Colonials return to work against the middle tier of the conference.

A sellout crowd of 5,000 is expected to greet the Colonials (17-1, 7-0 A-10) against Richmond today. It’s GW’s first home game since it moved into the top 10 last week for the first time since 1956.

“It was good to finally pull one out in the national spotlight,” forward Mike Hall said of the win against Xavier, which was secured by Maureece Rice’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 36 seconds left and Carl Elliott’s four free throws in the final 12 seconds.

Today does not have the buildup of the grudge match against the Musketeers.

Instead, GW meets an overmatched Richmond squad coming off a 63-45 loss to Fordham. The Spiders (11-9, 4-3) are in their first season under 33-year old coach Chris Mooney, who spent last season at Air Force. Richmond has some strong home wins against Old Dominion, Seton Hall and Charlotte but has only one road win — at Duquesne — in six tries.

The Spiders run a Princeton-style offense and allow an A-10 best 54 points but also score a league-low 52.5 points. The slowdown is Richmond’s only hope of staying in the game. That could be tricky because the Spiders have not met a squad with GW’s quickness, firepower and depth.

“That’s going to be tough,” said Richmond forward Jermaine Bucknor, the Spiders’ leading scorer at 14.0 points a game. “That is a great atmosphere. It’s going to be packed, and it gets so loud in there, but we have experience in hostile environments. We just have to be ready to play.”

The Colonials have won nine straight, have a three-game lead in the loss column against the rest of the league and appear to have a legitimate chance of going undefeated in conference play, thanks to a favorable unbalanced schedule. They will not see Xavier again in the regular season.

GW’s toughest games appear to be at Fordham on Feb. 25 and home against Charlotte in the regular-season finale March 4.

GW kept its perfect A-10 season alive by using its deep bench to erase a 17-point first-half deficit and wear Xavier down during the 89-85 victory. It marked the first time the Colonials had won in six attempts in Cintas Center.

“Our depth played a major, major role,” coach Karl Hobbs said. “And then Mike Hall made some big shots down the stretch. Maureece Rice made some big plays down the stretch, and Carl Elliott made some incredible plays.”

Elliott ignited a powerful defensive effort that turned turnovers into easy baskets in the second half. The 6-foot-4 junior point guard led the team with 10 rebounds, adding 15 points, five assists and three steals. Rice came off the bench and matched a career-high with 21 points, while Hall added 18, including five 3-pointers.

GW won’t be back in the national spotlight until Saturday’s game at Saint Joseph’s, which has a losing conference record. Before then, they will be heavy favorites in home games against Richmond and Dayton.

These Spiders have not resembled the “giant killers” the program used to be under coach Dick Tarrant or John Beilein when they were in the Colonial Athletic Association before moving up to the A-10 for the 2001-02 season.

One reason could be instability on the sideline. Richmond has its third coach in five seasons. Beilein left after the Spiders’ first A-10 season for West Virginia. He was replaced by Jerry Wainwright, who took the Spiders to the 2003-04 NCAA tournament — their only visit in the past six seasons — before leaving after last season for DePaul.