George Washington University Athletics
Men's Basketball Downs Xavier 78-67
2/5/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
WASHINGTON (AP) - Chris Monroe scored 26 points and George Washington stormed back from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat Xavier 78-67 on Saturday in an Atlantic 10 west division game.
The Colonials (10-11, 4-4), who won their season-high fourth straight game, trailed 48-35 with 15:31 left in the game before going on a 15-0 run. Monroe ended the stretch with a 3-pointer to give GW a 50-48 lead with 12:46 left.
SirValiant Brown (20 points), who entered the game as the nation's top scorer, had seven points during the run and Bernard Barrow (14 points) had one of three GW 3-pointers during the stretch.
Xavier cut the lead to 64-62 with 5:24 left, but Brown scored off an offensive rebound to give GW a 66-62 lead with 4:24 to go and the Colonials hit their free throws down the stretch to win.
Xavier (13-8, 4-5) outrebounded GW 32-17 to take a 39-24 halftime lead. Maurice McAfee had 15 of his game-high 19 points in the first half for Xavier. Teammate David West had 13 points and 13 rebounds and reserve Alvin Brown, a Washington, D.C., native, had 13 points for Xavier.
GW's Mike King, a reserve used in place of starter Jason Smith most of the second half, had eight points, 10 rebounds and three assists as the Colonials upped the tempo after intermission.
The Colonials, the top scoring team in the conference, were 1-9 in games in which they trailed at halftime prior to Saturday.
Lloyd Price, the leading scorer for the Musketeers, dislocated the ring finger on his left hand two minutes into the game and didn't return until there were less than eight minutes left to play. He was held scoreless.
