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GAMEDAY CENTRAL
ST. BONAVENTURE (7-6) VS. GEORGE WASHINGTON (10-3)
DATE: Wednesday, January 6, 2010
SITE: Reilly Center (5,780)
COURT: Bob Lanier Court
TIP-OFF: 7:00 p.m. EST
RADIO: WPIG (95.7 FM) & WHDL (1450 AM) - Olean
TALENT: Gary Nease (Play-by-Play)
Dr. John Watson (Color)
WEB AUDIO & VIDEO: www.GOBONNIES.com
SERIES: George Washington leads, 30-22
LAST MEETING: February 19, 2009 at GW
George Washington 90, St. Bonaventure 62
UP NEXT: at Charlotte
Saturday, January 9, 2010 @ 7 p.m.

AT A GLANCE
St. Bonaventure will look to continue its strong play at home on Wednesday when it hosts George Washington on the opening night of Atlantic 10 play. The Bonnies are a perfect 5-0 at the Reilly Center this season and have won nine straight at the RC dating back to last year. St. Bonaventure is 11-19 all-time in league openers, including 7-4 at home. The last time the Brown and White opened league play at home was in 2007, a 74-69 victory over Saint Louis. The Bonnies have opened up A-10 action at home just twice in the last 11 years. A win would give St. Bonaventure back-to-back wins in A-10 openers for the first time since the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons.

ALL-TIME SERIES
St. Bonaventure enters Wednesday's contest looking to put an end to a six-game losing streak against George Washington. Three of those six games have come at the Reilly Center where the Bonnies are 13-9 against the Colonials. George Washington has dominated the series since 1990, winning 23 of the last 28 meetings. The Colonials have scored 80 or more points in all eight games against the Bonnies under Karl Hobbs, going 7-1. The Colonials own the longest win streak in the series at nine games, stretching from 1990-93.

THIS DAY IN BONA BASKETBALL
St. Bonaventure is 4-7 all-time when playing on January 6, dating back to the 1975-76 season in the Bona record books - the final season that has actual dates recorded. The Bonnies defeated GW on Jan. 6 back in 1997 at the Reilly Center. St. Bonaventure's last win on this date came in 2002 against Rhode Island and its first-year head coach Jim Baron. Senior JR. BREMER scored a career-high 35 points on his former coach in a 96-74 win over the Rams.

SCOUTING THE COLONIALS
Off to a great start under ninth-year head coach Karl Hobbs, George Washington has already equaled its win total from all of last year with its 10-3 record. Even more impressive is the fact the Colonials won their first five road games of the season and sport a 5-1 mark away from home. A total of 11 players average 10 or more minutes per game for GW. The huge rotation of players has helped the Colonials stay fresh en route to leading the A-10 in both rebound margin (+6.2) and steals (9.2). Leading the way is senior Damian Hollis who ranks 12th in the A-10 in scoring at 15.3 points per game. The son of former Bona great Essie Hollis, Damian scored 17 points and had six rebounds at the Reilly Center on Feb. 16, 2008 when his father's #25 was retired. Freshman Lasan Kromah ranks second on the team in scoring (10.0), while starting all 13 games. Sophomore point guard Tony Taylor continues to develop and ranks in the top three on the club in scoring (9.4/3rd), rebounding (3.8/3rd) and assists (52/1st). Taylor is fourth in the A-10 with a +2.5 assist/turnover ratio.

HEAD COACHING MATCHUP
ST. BONAVENTURE HEAD COACH
Mark Schmidt
@ St. Bonaventure: 30-43 (3rd Season)
Overall: 112-133 (9th Season)
Atlantic 10: 8-24 (3rd Season)
vs. George Washington: 0-2

GEORGE WASHINGTON HEAD COACH
Karl Hobbs
@ GW: 143-103 (9th Season)
Overall: same
Atlantic 10: 68-60 (9th Season)
vs. St. Bonaventure: 7-1

HOME COOKING
With a 5-0 mark this season, St. Bonaventure has extended its home Reilly Center win streak to nine games - the longest since a 10-game streak that stretched from the end of the 2000-01 season (3 games) to the start of the 2001-02 campaign (7 games). The Bonnies closed last season on a four-game A-10 home win streak. Over the nine-game win streak, the Bonnies have out-scored their opponents by 13.5 points per game and have shot over 50 percent in six of the nine games for a cumulative 51 percent clip (249-490). Senior JONATHAN HALL is averaging 15.6 points during the home win streak. Hall has a 30-point game and a pair of 20-point efforts during the run. Sophomore ANDREW NICHOLSON (13.0) and senior CHRIS MATTHEWS (12.2) are also averaging double figure points during the win streak.

DO IT ALL HALL
After becoming just the second player in program history to lead the team in points, rebounds and assists in the same year, senior JONATHAN HALL is quietly putting together another solid season. Hall ranks second on the club in nearly every statistical category; points (12.2), rebounds (5.2), assists (3.3), steals (17), blocks (8) and field goal percentage (.568). The Miami, Fla. native has scored in double figures a team-best 12 times, while leading the way on the backboard seven times, including the last five games. Over his last three games, Hall has averaged 13.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.7 assists, highlighted by a pair of double-doubles and a 20-point outing. Hall also has six of his eight blocks on the season over the past three contests. Hall ranks third in the A-10 in field goal percentage and ninth in assist/turnover ratio (+1.5).

THE CN TOWER
Sophomore ANDREW NICHOLSON is the center of attention for opposing teams. That hasn't stopped the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year from avoiding a sophomore slump, as the Canadian big man leads the team in both scoring (15.8) and rebounding (7.2). Nicholson leads the A-10 with a 64.4 percent (85-132) field goal percentage and is one of two players to rank in top 10 in the conference in both scoring (10th) and rebounding (7th). Nicholson poured in a game-high 26 points on 11-of-15 from the field against St. John's and then equaled a career-high with 29 points and a career-best 14 boards against Norfolk State. He has a team-high three 20-point games this season. Nicholson has led the team in scoring seven times and rebounding five times this season, including both in the same game on four occasions.

DUNK YOU VERY MUCH
Blessed with a 7-foot-4 wingspan and plenty of bounce, sophomore ANDREW NICHOLSON'S career 61.6 percent shoot clip is aided by his ability to dunk the basketball. Through 43 career games, Nicholson has thrown down 64 dunks out of his 239 field goals. In 2008-09, Nicholson had 37 dunks and has followed with 27 already this season. Nicholson set a career-high with seven slams at Niagara on Dec. 22, besting his previous record of five at Duquesne last season. The Mississauga, Ontario product has a dunk in 27 career games, including 19 multi-dunk performances and 11 games of three or more dunks.

SOFT TOUCH
Who says big men can't shoot? According to the most recent NCAA statistics, sophomore ANDREW NICHOLSON is less than one percent away at the charity stripe from being one of two players in the nation shooting 60 percent or better from the field and at least 80 percent from the free throw line. To be eligible for the rankings, the player has to make five field goals per game and an average of 2.5 free throws per contest. The 6-foot-9 second-year forward ranks eighth in the A-10 in free throw percentage (.795). He also leads the conference and ranks third in the country in field goal percentage (.644). Nicholson is looking to join Lafayette's Jared Mintz on the exclusive list.