East Carolina University
George Washington
ECU Drops Heartbreaker to George Washington
December 23, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tony Taylor scored a career-high 26 points and Bryan Bynes banked in the game-winner with an off-balance 18-foot jumper with 2.5 seconds remaining, as George Washington defeated East Carolina 82-80 on Wednesday night.
The Colonials (5-5) let an 11-point second-half lead slip away and trailed 77-74 with 1:21 to play. Taylor sank two free throws and then with 37 seconds left was fouled making a layup.
The converted 3-point play and a Joseph Katuka free throw pushed the lead to 80-77 with 20 seconds left, but the Pirates (7-5) tied the game when Darrius Morrow grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled on the putback with nine seconds to go.
On the Colonials' final possession, Taylor raced into the frontcourt and passed to Bynes who connected to give the Colonials their third straight win. The Pirates, who lost their third in a row, failed to get off a final shot.
Dwayne Smith scored 20 points and Joseph Katuka added a career-best 17 points for the Colonials. They led the entire first half and 51-41 with less than 15 minutes to play before the Pirates went on a 14-3 run to lead 55-54.
Jontae Sherrod made five 3-pointers and led the Pirates with 21 points to pace four double-figure scorers. East Carolina made 11 shots from beyond the arc, shot 51.7 percent (30 for 58) from the field and held their largest lead at 68-64 with over six minutes remaining.
Jamar Abrams scored 10 points in his return for the Pirates after sitting out the previous game with an ankle injury, but he missed two 3-pointers in the final minute.
Though they have struggled with their shooting all season -- 37.8 percent from the field entering the game -- the Colonials made over half (55.6 percent) of their shots for the second straight contest led by Taylor's 9 for 12 from the field. Poor free-throw shooting (17 for 32) nearly did them in, but the Colonials made 4 of 5 inside the final 2 minutes.
Sherrod scored 11 first-half points, but Smith scored 10 points and the Colonials led 37-33 at halftime.
