Marshall University Athletics
George Washington Tops Men's Basketball, 69-64
11/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
George Washington Tops Men's Basketball, 69-64
11/15/2001
- Box Score
LEXINGTON, Ky. - George Washington, paced by a 26-point effort from Chris Monroe, erased an 18-point halftime deficit, to top Marshall, 69-64, in the first round of the NABC Classic Thursday at Rupp Arena.
"We played a horrible second half. What can you say?," Marshall head coach Greg White said."We played a very good first half and a poor second half. You have to play 40 minutes and we did not do that tonight."
Marshall (0-1) opened the game on a tear, outscoring the Colonials 53-35 in the first half. MU Senior Tamar Slay led the first half charge with 17 points and freshman Ronny Dawn contributed a strong 11 points. In fact, as a team Marshall shot a tremendous 54.3% from the field in the first stanza. However, the second half belonged to the Colonials.
George Washington limited Marshall to only two field goals in the second half, outscoring the Herd 34-11, en route to the win. The Thundering Herd was only 2-28 (7.14%) from the floor in the second half, but managed to maintain a lead until about the 8-minute mark and had several chances to pull out a win late, the last being a in-bounds play to Slay with less than 30-seconds remaining that was well defended by George Washington.
Monroe, a 6-3 junior forward, scored 13 points in the first half and 13 points in the second to lead all scorers with 26. In addition, GW's Jaason Smith netted 12 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
Marshall was led by Tamar Slay's 22 points and Latece Williams' 10 points and 11 rebounds. J.R. VanHoose finished the night with 14 points and nine boards. Freshman Ronny Dawn chipped in with 11 points.
Overall, George Washington out-rebounded the Herd 38-35 and got 34 points in the paint to MU's 18.
In the night cap, Western Kentucky upended host Kentucky to set up an NABC Championship game between the Hilltoppers and the Colonials at 8 p.m. Friday. Marshall will face the University of Kentucky in the tournament's consolation game at 6 p.m.
"We have got to get ready for our next game," White said. "We don't have time to mope around over this loss, because no matter who we play tommorrow, it is going to be a very, very good team. But, that is why we are here, to play against good teams and to get ready for MAC play."