CINCINNATI, March 12 -- Karl Hobbs was attempting to huddle his team for one final word Saturday night when one of his players noticed that someone was missing.
"Where's Pops?" sophomore forward J.R. Pinnock yelled as he poked his head out of the huddle. "Hey Pops!"
From left, GW's Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Omar Williams and Mike Hall revel in the Colonials' victory and first NCAA tournament bid since 1999.
(John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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With that, Pops Mensah-Bonsu came running. A net dangled around his neck and a large, shiny Atlantic 10 championship trophy was tucked in his arms like a football. The man who is simply known in Foggy Bottom as Pops wore a smile that could have lit up US Bank Arena -- and with good reason.
For the first time since 1999, the George Washington men's basketball team is going to the NCAA tournament. The Colonials locked up an automatic bid and spared themselves the tension and potential heartache that would have come with waiting for the field of 65 to be announced Sunday by beating Saint Joseph's, 76-67, Saturday night in the Atlantic 10 tournament championship game.
George Washington has played in the Atlantic 10 tournament every year since 1977, but had never won it.
"It feels really good to put our destiny in our own hands," said Mensah-Bonsu, who scored six points and grabbed eight rebounds in 28 minutes. "We knew if we lost this game, it would have been highly unlikely that we'd receive an at-large bid. We played with a sense of urgency. We had to win."
One year after finishing the regular season unbeaten and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, Saint Joseph's (19-11) must hope for an at-large bid. However, the Hawks likely will have to settle for an National Invitation Tournament bid.
In avenging a March 1 home loss to Saint Joseph's, the Colonials shot 70 percent during the second half and broke open a close game with a 9-0 run that junior forward Omar Williams capped by making two free throws to give George Washington a 58-49 lead at the 3-minute 29-second mark.
Williams, a Philadelphia native who escaped Saint Joseph's attention during the recruiting process, led the Colonials with 20 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and hit 13 of 17 free throws. Senior point guard T.J. Thompson scored 15 points, Pinnock added 15 and sophomore guard Carl Elliott added 11.
With the Colonials clinging to a 53-49 lead with 4:35 left, Thompson hit the game's biggest shot.
Thompson, one of only two George Washington seniors and a kid who came to Foggy Bottom from Germantown dreaming of one day playing in the NCAA tournament, dribbled to his left, pulled up and hit a three-pointer, giving the Colonials their largest lead.
"I really wasn't paying attention to the score," said Thompson, who is the school's leading career three-point shooter. "This morning at shoot-around, we ran that play and Coach told me to hesitate a little when I came off the screen until I saw where the big man was. When I came off, I noticed that he was staying back so I shot it."
The Colonials had to overcome a rough start. George Washington led 22-20 after an ugly first half in which the teams combine to miss 41 shots and turn over the ball 14 times.
The Colonials limited Saint Joseph's senior guard Pat Carroll, the Atlantic 10 co-player of the year, in the first half, thanks to the tireless efforts of Elliott and Pinnock. But Carroll heated up during the second half, scoring 20 of his 25 points. At one point, Carroll scored 12 of Saint Joseph's 14 points and helped the Hawks build a 42-35 lead with 11:44 remaining.
Carroll, who scored a career-high 30 points in a semifinal win over Xavier on Friday, was named the tournament's most outstanding player.
"I was so proud of my guys because we didn't panic when it looked they were getting on a roll there," Hobbs said. "We kept our poise and I thought we really hit some big shots down the stretch to get us back into the game."
The Colonials took a leap to 18-12 last season and played in the NIT, but Saturday night's victory is the surest sign yet that the program is getting back to where it was in the 1990s, when it made five NCAA appearances.
"I'm still amazed," Thompson said. "When I first came here, we were at the bottom of the league, so nothing feels better than doing what we did tonight. This is what I've always dreamed of doing here, getting GW back to the tournament."
