A-10 Championship -- GW going dancin'

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Welcome to the Atlantic 10 Championship game, where (3) George Washington faces (4) Rhode Island. 1-seed Xavier has an RPI good enough to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, but neither GW (73 RPI) or URI (RPI 104) will get anything other than the automatic bid.
This means that Penn is clearly rooting for Rhode Island -- a squad that even with a win here would probably take up a 14-seed, possibly pushing Penn to a 13.

George Washington 78, Rhode Island 69 FINAL

The Colonials are clutch on the free throws, and a missed Mbang three (looking for the foul) will just about do it.

Baron misses a three (in and out) and Mbang misses a dunk, and the party has started for George Washington.

Maureece Rice throws his jersey 20 feet in the air (man, he's big), and the fans rush the court. One fan even drops his phone -- battery goes flying -- but he keeps on running.
One player lies on the ground, hands over his face, and the fans jump on top to help him celebrate.

George Washington 75, Rhode Island 69 0:37.5 2nd Half

Ellliott dribbles off his foot in the backcourt, but the refs are looking for a foul, and call one. He hits the two free throws.

Baron again keeps the dream alive for URI with a three off a pump fake.

George Washington 73, Rhode Island 66 0:50.3 2nd Half

Bitee starts the fouling for the Rams. A little early down 6. King hits one.

Baron comes up way short on his three-point attempt. That is a surprise, he's a 49-percent shooter from behind the arc.
Bitee drives to the hoop to keep the game alive.

George Washington 70, Rhode Island 64 1:23 2nd Half

GW grabs yet another steal, and Rice goes to the line the other way, hitting two.
Daniels gets to the line as well, and is equally clutch.

George Washington 68, Rhode Island 62 2:16 2nd Half

As the Colonials try to keep it a two-possession game as they have done throughout, Akingbade picks up an offensive foul, and Keith Cothran drains a baseline jumper.
Akingbade comes back with a tough layup.

George Washington 46, Rhode Island 60 3:37 2nd Half

Just as GW was getting all the loose balls, Daniels takes a steal the other way for a dunk. He's got 27 points, already 15 this half.

GW fans singing loudly along with a band song, and the URI faithful chant louder to disrupt it.

George Washington 66, Rhode Island 58 4:20 2nd Half

Seawright and King trade quick baskets.
GW is finally slowing it down a bit, and it's working.

George Washington 62, Rhode Island 56 6:45 2nd Half

Daniels gets an NBA-style continuation (still probably a good call though) for an and-1. URI is finally ball-faking and passing the ball very well. The 15 1st-half turnovers were a real eye-opener.

Bitee throws a pass into the top of the 1-3-1, but gets it back on a TO, and gets it to Daniels for a sick hanging jumper. Rice had a nasty crossover, but missed the long jumper.

It's a four-point lead, and the crowd on both sides gets loud.
Daniels finally misses two shots, though, and GW has a tiny bit of breathing room.

George Washington 57, Rhode Island 49 10:23 2nd Half

Hollis picks up his fourth foul, but Koundija hits a three to keep the lead at seven.
Daniels is the only one who is doing anything against the 1-3-1 zone of the Colonials. He turns a drive to the hoop into two points from the line.

Now Koundija fouls out on a loose-ball foul, and the URI crowd loves it.
Rice finally scores to make it 51-44, but you have to feel the Rams are playing better basketball right now.

Seawright hits one off an o-reb, and they go zone, but Rice finally hits a three. That's a big one.
Now Travis King adds to the lead, but downtown specialist Baron comes back with one. This is the most entertaining game yet this tournament.

George Washington 46, Rhode Island 42 15:50 2nd Half

Daniels continues on his tear with an open three, but Elliott responds with one of his own. Seawright had a shot sitting on the rim that got swatted out. Shoulda been two points.
Daniels his yet another triple against the shifting zone, and we've got a ballgame.

Halftime:
The Philadephia natives are a combined 3-for-14, but GW is still managing 43.2-percent shooting, slightly better than URI's 40.7 percent. (Oddly enough, Rice's shoes are light-blue and black, almost the same as his opponents' colors.)
Akingbade leads the Colonials with 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting, while star swingman Daniels paces the Rams with 12.
The key stat separating these teams is the turnovers -- GW has three, URI has 15. Yup, and it's only halftime.

George Washington 44, Rhode Island 36 HALFTIME

The refs have now determined that it was a flagrant foul, and Mbang and Baron each shoot two, and hit three in total. The way Mbang landed it seems like a good call.

URI is now going against a zone, and passing well, but couldn't finish on the last contested layup.
Bitee's long pass to Baron is too far, and the GW defense is starting to get to the Rams.

Wilmore misses a pair of threes, but gets himself a steal and runner for two back.
URI is really turning it over, three in three possessions.

George Washington 40, Rhode Island 31 3:38 1st Half

Rice has an open layup, but Mbang pins him against the basket, and the URI crowd at that end goes nuts.

Mbang then goes hard to the hoop for a layup and gets laid out by Koundija. Mbang is pissed and the teams come together in the lane. It's getting heated, though nothing goes down.

Boardwalk Hall is about 70 percent full (6,000 fans maybe), which outside of the St. Joe's -- Temple game on Wednesday is by far the largest crowd yet.

George Washington 38, Rhode Island 31 4:19 1st Half

Daniels, who was quiet in yesterday's upset of Xavier, is having a great game. He muscles his way to an offensive rebound and a layup.
But two quick Elliott baskets -- one off of a steal -- and GW takes back the lead.

Akingbade takes a pass for a wide open two-handed dunk, and the lead is five for the 3-seed. He now twists through the defense for a layin.

George Washington 26, Rhode Island 27 7:59 1st Half

Diggs just got hit in the nose with an elbow from Mbang, and was bleeding profusely. It was no Tyler Hansbrough nosebleed, but a pool of blood on the ground. (We now know he broke his nose) Daniels drains a three, and the Rams are on top. Daniels, usually more of an offensive threat, gets a nasty block on Elliott, but the GW guard was fouled down low.
On the other end Hollis gets called for a foul on another block. He takes a lap around the three-point line in frustration.

In all, the URI offense is great. The Rams are knocking down the outside shots, and penetrating only a little, but much more that GW's opponents the last two days (St. Joe's and Saint Louis) could.

George Washington 20, Rhode Island 20 10:53 1st Half

Both teams are in a little three-quarter-court press. The Rams are in their usual 2-3 zone, while the Colonials go man.
Now URI goes to a man defense, but is still pressing. The tempo is nice and fast.

Noel Wilmore stuffs a guard trying for some penetration. Wilmore, a Philadelphia native along with teammate Rice, is helps to keep GW's inside defense particularly stingy. They only let St. Joe's big men Ahmad Nivins and Rob Ferguson hit three combined shots in their round two matchup.

Mbang drains a three from way out, and we're tied. The forward has made more outside shots than GW as a team. Rob Diggs, though, gets the best of Mbang on the other end.

George Washington 14, Rhode Island 11 15:43 1st Half

Maureece Rice starts it off with a trey from the corner, but coach's son Jimmy Baron responds.
What the heck, Damian Hollis hits another three to make it three on three combined possessions.
Akingbade beasts Daniels for an easy layup, and all of a sudden the Colonials have a nine-point lead.

GW is pressing and trapping with two guards in the backcourt.
It was doing some good, but now Parfait Bitee hits his fellow Cameroon native Joe Mbang for an open three.

Starters:

URI:

G Parfait Bitee 6-2
G Jimmy Baron 6-2
F Will Daniels Jr 6-8
F Kahiem Seawright 6-8
C Darrell Harris 6-10

G Maureece Rice 6-1
G Damian Hollis 6-8
G Carl Elliott 6-4
F Regis Koundija 6-8
F Dokun Akingbade 6-9