When James Naismith invented basketball in 1891 in Springfield, Mass., he made the object of the game easy -- shoot a ball into a basket.

If he saw the first half of the men's basketball game at Rec Hall on Saturday, he probably turned over in his grave.

The Lions (12-5, 6-3 in the Atlantic 10) shot an abysmal 37.1 percent from the field in the first half against George Washington (8-11, 2-7). But thanks to almost 52 percent shooting and Ed Fogell's 16 points in the second half, the Lions came back to beat the Colonials, 77-69.

The Colonials' poor shooting in the first half (35.3) kept the game close and the score was even at 34 at intermission. For that reason, the Lions didn't get down on themselves in the locker room.

"Earlier in the game we'd get up by four or five, then we'd make a mistake and get them back in it," forward James Barnes said. "We had to play harder than we were playing, so that's basically what we talked about at halftime."

"We realized in the first half we were just playing basketball and not playing to win," Fogell said after scoring 25 points. "We wanted to go out and show some guts and determination, and that's what we did in the second half."

For Fogell and Barnes to play well was quite an accomplishment for them because both were suffering from sore backs.

Fogell, who injured his back earlier in the year against Juniata, re-injured it in practice Thursday.

Barnes scored 13 points, but caused coach Bruce Parkhill to cringe when he hit the floor twice in the first half. The second time he said teammate Monroe Brown fell on his head.

But Fogell and Barnes played 37 and 33 minutes, respectively. Parkhill, who said he wasn't sure if they were going to play at all, was surprised that they were able to play that long. Fogell, who said after the game he was a "sore puppy," said it was survival.

"If I would have come out and sat down my back would have really tightened up," Fogell said. "We were talking with the trainer beforehand (who said) we have to keep it loose. So, I couldn't get into foul trouble or I would have been in a worse situation."

Another reason the Lions had such a hard time was that guards Freddie Barnes and Brown were a combined 5-of-20 from the floor.

"GW came out and played real hard-nosed tough defense and made it tough for our guards," Parkhill said. "I thought their ball pressure bothered us a little bit and it's nice to win when that happens."

The Lions led by six at one point in the first half. With the score 19-15, Fogell canned a 10-foot jumper from the baseline. Later, however, the Colonials' Dirkk Surles nailed two free throws to go up 34-32 with 1:22 left. James Barnes tied it up with 46 seconds left on a layup after freshman Eric Carr swatted away a layup at the other end.

The Lions came back from two six-point deficits in the second half. They wiped away the second deficit when James Barnes knocked in two free throws to tie the game, 58-58. After the Colonials' Ellis McKennie scored, DeRon Hayes stuck an eight-foot jumper to tie it again.

McKennie tied it later, 62-62, after Freddie Barnes hit two free throws, but Fogell put the Lions in front for good with a 15-foot jumper with 5:23 left.

"I thought we played awfully well for 35 minutes," Colonial coach John Kuester said. "The last five minutes it was awfully tough to score. We didn't get the shots we wanted and when we made their run we didn't counteract."

Now the Lions have a much needed-week long rest until they play St. Joseph's next Saturday at Rec Hall.

"I think it's going to be good for us because of Eddie and Jimmy primarily," Parkhill said. "Hopefully we can get those guys rested. I think we need a chance to circle the wagons a little bit, regroup and get ready for the homestretch."