Danilo Pinnock

Jan. 11, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) - Danilo Pinnock had 19 points, seven in overtime, and 12 rebounds and No. 17 George Washington survived a game of wild swings to beat Saint Louis 69-64 Wednesday night.

The Colonials rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit, then blew an eight-point lead before forcing overtime on Omar Williams' layup with 22 seconds left. Pinnock had a flying block of Danny Brown's 3-point attempt at the regulation buzzer.

George Washington then scored the first six points of overtime and kept the lead thanks to two offensive rebounds by Pinnock, including one he tipped in to make it 65-59 with 55 seconds remaining.

Williams and Carl Elliot each scored 10 points for the Colonials (11-1, 2-0 Atlantic 10), who played their second straight overtime game. Brown scored a career-high 23 points for the Billikens (7-7, 1-1), who have alternated wins with losses every game the entire season.

Both teams struggled at the free throw line. Saint Louis went 5-for-15, while George Washington made 17 of 28.

Ian Vouyoukas, Saint Louis' leading scorer, didn't score until 3:22 remaining in the first half and was held to six points on 2-for-4 shooting amid constant double-teams.

Brown's layup capped a 7-0 run that gave Saint Louis a 32-23 lead early in the second half. George Washington coach Karl Hobbs called a timeout, and the Colonials returned with renewed intensity, tying the game with a 12-3 run in which five players scored.

The Colonials then turned up the defense. Maureece Rice made a steal at midcourt and passed ahead to Pinnock, who was fouled hard as he made his layup and celebrated by pumping his fists as he rolled on the baseline. He made the free throw for the three-point play to put GW ahead 42-40.

A three-point play from Elliot and a 3-pointer from Williams gave the Colonials an eight-point lead with 4:53 to play, but Brown and Kevin Lisch hit back-to-back 3-pointers for the Saint Louis, and Tommie Liddell had an unusual three-point play when he made one of two free throws after being intentionally fouled on a made layup.

Lisch followed a minute later with a 3-pointer to give the Billikens a 54-50 lead with 2:13 left. Williams made two of four free throws in the next minute to cut the lead to two, and his driving layup tied the game at 54 to force overtime.

Anthony Drejaj, the Billikens' best outside shooter, returned after missing three games with a right foot injury, but he had to leave the game with 12 minutes remaining when he turned his left ankle playing defense.