Box Score

March 11, 2004

By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Carl Elliott and T.J. Thompson each scored 14 points to lead George Washington over undermanned Rhode Island 79-50 on Thursday in an Atlantic-10 quarterfinal.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu came off the bench to score 13 points for the Colonials (18-10), who have won seven of their last nine. They hit 53 percent of their shots from the field.

The Colonials will meet Xavier (21-10) in Friday's first semifinal. The Musketeers pulled off a stunning 87-67 upset of No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Saint Joseph's in an earlier quarterfinal at the University of Dayton Arena.

Rhode Island (19-13) was limited because of an injury to its leading scorer, Dawan Robinson. The league's ninth-leading scorer at 16.4 points a game, Robinson flipped over a defender while shooting a layup in Wednesday's night's 87-72 first-round win over La Salle. He sustained a severe back contusion and was only able to play four minutes and did not score.

Brian Woodward led the Rams with 18 points.

The Colonials erased an early 5-3 deficit with a 17-3 run in which six players scored, keyed by Ricky Lucas' five points and four by Elliott.

GWU led 48-28 at the half, outscoring the Rams 10-0 in transition points off turnovers and 16-2 in fastbreak points.

The Colonials led by as many as 22 points in the first half and by 30 midway through the second half.