Jan. 12, 2010
La Salle Explorers vs. George Washington Colonials
Date: Wednesday, January 13
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
TV: CBS CS Regional (syndicated on The Comcast Network Philadelphia, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, and The Comcast Network Mid-Atlantic)
Location: Tom Gola Arena
Game: Atlantic 10 Conference
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La Salle Explorers (8-7, 1-1)
Conference: Atlantic 10
Now at the midway point of the season, La Salle will play its first game of the second half of its schedule on Wednesday when it takes on the George Washington Colonials in Tom Gola Arena. After La Salle's 80-74 win at UMass on Sunday, the Explorers look like they are in mid-season form. La Salle is coming off its most balanced outing and its best half of basketball since the first half of its game against South Carolina.
As La Salle readies itself for the Colonials, freshman Aaric Murray is coming off the best game of his young collegiate career, as he scored a career-high 18 points and finished just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds. Junior Steve Weingarten had quite a day as well, putting together career-bests in points (10) and rebounds (8).
Since Atlantic 10 play has begun, senior Yves Mekongo is starting to make his presence felt. In the two conference games played thus far, Mekongo is averaging 13.5 ppg. At UMass, he showed that his consistency from three-point range is improving after going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc. Last season against the Colonials in Gola Arena, Mekongo put on a career night with 26 points, 22 of which were scored in the first half alone.
If standout senior Rodney Green can maintain his average of nearly 19 ppg when he plays against GW, he'll pass former teammate Darnell Harris for 16th place on La Salle's all-time scoring list on Wednesday. Green is 16 points shy of tying Harris.
George Washington Colonials (11-4, 1-1)
Conference: Atlantic 10
Coming off a home loss to the Xavier Musketeers, the Colonials go to La Salle looking to pick up its second conference victory on the road.
Head coach Karl Hobbs has made a commitment to keeping fresh legs on the court throughout a game. Nobody on GW is averaging more than 29.5 minutes a game, showing they can maintain their energy over the course of a game.
The Colonials returned three starters from a year ago in senior Damian Hollis, junior Travis King and sophomore Tony Taylor for the 2009-10 season. Hollis leads his team with 15.6 ppg and 5.3 rpg. Lasan Kromah has been tremendous in the first half of the season for GW.
The freshman guard has started in all 15 games and is ranked second on the team with 10.8 ppg. Kromah, who is noted for being versatile and able to score in many different ways, is the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week. He's been honored with the award twice this season, due to having the second-best shooting percentage for the Colonials (.462) while hitting a team-best 27 three-pointers.
Defense has been GW's strong side of the ball this season. The Colonials are hauling down just over 39 boards a game, while forcing nearly nine steals and rejecting more than four shots a game.
The Series
George Washington leads the all-time series over the Explorers with a record of 16-10. Dating back to the 2007-08 season, La Salle owns a three-game winning streak against the Colonials. The last time the Colonials defeated the Explorers was Feb. 24, 2007 by a score of 86-74 in Tom Gola Arena on a night when they shot nearly 52 percent from the field, GW took a 15-point lead into halftime and ended up having five players finish in double figures.
Last season, La Salle and GW swapped venues, but it was the Explorers who took wins in both clashes. Wednesday's game will be the first of two meetings with the Colonials again this season. The back end of the home-and-home will be Feb. 24 in Washington D.C.
In the first bout, as mentioned earlier, Yves Mekongo scored 22 points in the opening half to put on the best first half performance since Steve Smith scored 23 points in the first half of a game in 2004. Senior Rodney Green also paced the Explorers with 20 points in this one. Vernon Goodridge pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds, while Mekongo added nine of his own. GW's Noel Wilmore's 16 points and Rob Digg's 11 point-8 rebound performance were not a factor, as La Salle cruised to a 76-66 victory.
Down in the nation's capital two weeks later, Mekongo was sidelined with a broken hand, but senior Ruben Guillandeaux stepped-up in his absence with a game-high 22 points. Green and Barrett each cashed-in 14 points in La Salle's 68-57 win at the Smith Center. The Colonials never held a lead in this game, but they didn't go down easy, as they were able to narrow a 16-point deficit down to three points with 8:08 remaining. Damian Hollis led the Colonials with 20 points, while Rob Diggs dished out 11.
