Bowie High Grad a Key Player at Columbia University

Several athletes from Bowie are excelling in college basketball this season.

Amara Mbionwu, a graduate of Bowie High School, led Division I Columbia University in rebounds at 5.4 per game in the first 10 games.

She also averaged 17 minutes and 3.2 points per game in the first 10 outings, according to the school's athletic website.

She averaged 12.3 rebounds per game as a senior at Bowie.

Keyanna Tate, another Bowie High grad, is a freshman on the women's team at Delaware State. She started the first 10 games and averaged 5.9 points per outing, according to the school website. The Hornets lost, 108-33, at Maryland on Dec. 8.

Linnel Macklin, another Bowie High grad, came off the bench in eight of the first 10 games as a freshman for Lafayette of the Patriot League. She played 5.5 minutes per game and had yet to score.

Lafayette plays Dec. 28 at Maryland in the Terrapin Classic in College Park. Her team will face Delaware or East Carolina the next day at the Comcast Center.

Treveon Graham, a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University in men's hoops, played in the first nine games off the bench and averaged 11.3 minutes, 3.3 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, according to the school's athletic website.

A 6-foot-5 guard, Graham played in high school at St. Mary's-Ryken. VCU, of the Colonial Athletic Association, advanced to the Final Four last season.

Lonergan, GW host JMU

The George Washington men's basketball team, coached by Bowie native Mike Lonergan, will try to break a five-game losing streak when the Colonials host James Madison in a non-league game Thursday at 7 p.m. in Foggy Bottom.

In its last game, GW fell to 4-6 overall with a last-second 67-66 loss to Bradley of the Missouri Valley Conference at home on Thursday. Bradley took a 67-64 lead with 44.9 seconds left on a three-pointer.

GW cut the lead to 67-66 with 23.9 seconds to play and had a chance to win but guard Tony Taylor and Lasan Kromah, a graduate of Eleanor Roosevelt High in Greenbelt, missed shots in the closing seconds.

"That is a heartbreaking loss," Lonergan said after the game. "For whatever reason, we are struggling to make easy shots. It is disappointing, especially to lose at home. I am disappointed. I hate losing."

Taylor is averaging a team-high 12.9 points per game and Kromah is second at 9.6. The Roosevelt grad, who missed last season with an injury, is first in rebounds for GW at 5.7 per game.