Spectators in the Smith Center in Washington, D.C., probably expected to see Snoopy swooping down from the ceiling after the ever-evasive Red Baron.

If Saturday night's men's basketball game between Penn State and George Washington could be compared to anything at all, it would be a dogfight as the Lions shot down the Colonials in an up and down aerial war, 72-64.

The Lions raised their record to 18-6, 11-4 in the Atlantic 10 to remain second in the conference and the Colonials fell to 12-14, 6-10 to remain mired in seventh.

The Lions have now won 11 of their last 13 games and five of their last seven road games. They have now won one more regular season game than they did last season and still have a shot at reaching the 20-win plateau before the A-10 Tournament.

"We knew we were in for a dogfight," Coach Bruce Parkhill said on his post-game radio show. "We could never break it open and the credit goes to GW for that. Every time it looked like we could get comfortable they would come right back and make a big play."

One of the side battles going on during the game was a bout between the two strongest candidates for A-10 Freshman of the Year honors, forward DeRon Hayes and GW center/forward Sonni Holland.

Hayes finished the night with a career-high 18 points. He shot 7-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. His previous career-high of 15 was set last against Rutgers. Hayes also totaled nine rebounds.

Holland chalked up 14 points and three rebounds.

"The thing that I'm really happy about regarding DeRon is the fact that he's starting to rebound the way we thought he could all year," Parkhill said. "We've been happy with his offensive play but at times he hasn't rebounded. Now he's getting active on the boards. He kept the ball alive a couple of times that were really key."

Holland controlled the opening tip and passed the ball ahead to forward Matt Nordmann, who laid the ball up and in for the Colonials' only lead of the night, 2-0. A minute later forward James Barnes answered with a layup of his own, and the Lions were off and running.

The Colonials got to within three points with 9:43 remaining in the half as McKennie hit 1-of-2 at the line to make the score 17-14. The teams then traded buckets for over three minutes until Hayes scored two hoops and a foul shot to up the Lions' lead to 28-20.

GW pulled to within three one more time with about 1:45 remaining in the half, but the Lions engineered another two-minute comeback. Five seconds later McKennie fouled Barnes, who missed both free throws, but Darrell Ricks tipped in the second shot for two points.

Then GW turned the ball over and Ricks canned a jumper. Holland scored on a turn-around jumper on the next possession, but with three seconds left center Ed Fogell hit a foul line jumper of his own and the Lions went into the half with a 36-29 lead.

"GW is always tough at home," Parkhill said. "This was a big game for them. They were going for a chance to have a winning season and they were really wired up."

The Lions began the second half with a turnover before any time went off the clock after Hayes was called for a five-second violation on the inbounds pass. Holland hit a bucket in traffic a few seconds later to make the score 36-31.

Led by guards McKennie and Glen Sitney, the Colonials would not allow the Lions to increase the lead to any more than nine points. They pulled themselves back time and time again. The closest GW got was two points, 63-61, with about 4:00 left to play after a left-wing 3-pointer from McKennie.

"The GW guards have good size and excellent athletic ability," Parkhill said. "They get right up on you and they're quick enough to stay with guys like Monie and Freddie. They're real physical and McKennie is a few inches taller than Freddie, so . . it's tough for Freddie to play him. McKennie's one of the best defenders in the league."

GW kept it close until the last minute of the game, when its turnovers combined with the Lions' cool heads to put the lead beyond reach. With 41 seconds left, Holland grabbed Fogell around the neck and stripped the ball. No foul. Fogell stayed with Holland to the GW hoop and blocked first Holland's shot, then Mike Jones'.

Freddie Barnes got the rebound and threw the ball ahead to Hayes, whose layup got pinned against the glass by a GW defender. A foul was called instead of goaltending and Hayes made two from the line. With four seconds left Brown took one last trip to the line and nailed both his shots. Mark Karver failed to convert on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.