Jan. 8, 2005

Box Score

By ALAN ROBINSON
AP Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH (AP) - T.J. Thompson scored the first eight points of George Washington's 16-4 run late in the first half and the No. 24 Colonials withstood a sluggish second half to beat Duquesne 81-57 Saturday night.

Mike Hall scored 19 points, Thompson added 17 and J.R. Pinnock returned from a one-game suspension for violating an unspecified team rule to score 15 points off the bench. Thompson scored all but three of his points in the first half and Pops Mensah-Bonsu had 13 for the Colonials (10-2, 2-0 Atlantic 10).

The Colonials hit their first seven shots - four from 3-point range - while making all but eight of 28 shots in the first half. They never led by fewer than 15 points after that despite scoring only 11 points in the first 14{ minutes of an erratic second half.

George Washington ended Duquesne's two-game winning streak and beat the Dukes (4-11, 1-1) for the 19th time in 22 games, and the second time in as many seasons by a wide margin in Pittsburgh. They won there 86-63 last season.

Duquesne hasn't beaten a ranked team in 16 tries since upsetting then-No. 16 Xavier on the road Jan. 25, 1997, and hasn't defeated one at home since beating then-No. 18 Xavier in March 1993. Despite Bryant McAllister's 19 points, the Dukes - coming off a double-overtime, 94-93 win at Dayton - didn't come close to doing so against the Atlantic 10's only ranked team.

George Washington led 18-11 before missing its first shot, and never was threatened after the Thompson-led run stretched an eight-point lead into a 20-point margin, 46-26, on freshman Maureece Rice's basket with 1:27 remaining in the half.

Thompson's left-handed driving layup started the run, and he followed with 3-pointers on consecutive possessions. Thompson, shooting 53.2 percent from 3-point range, was 4-of-7 from beyond the arc in the first half before missing both 3-point attempts in the second half.

Duquesne never got closer than 15 points after halftime, at 55-40, even though the Colonials made only 5 of their first 17 shots in the second half.

George Washington won its 10th in 11 games, a span that includes wins over No. 20 Michigan State and No. 22 Maryland.