The league commissioner may not be handing out any trophies this week, but Tony Taylor's emergence has been an aspect paramount to success for the George Washington University Colonials.
Taylor, a Sleepy Hollow native who re-wrote the record books at Stepinac High School, is averaging a team-best 14.4 points and 4.6 assists for the Atlantic-10 team that's ripped three of their last four.
The Colonials are in no way a finished product, still hovering a few lengths above the .500 mark at 15-13.
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Taylor copped a double-double, posting 19 points and doling out 11 assists to trigger the Colonials' high-scoring in an 82-80 victory over La Salle back on Feb. 19.
Taylor shot the ball at a 5-for-10 clip and whipped passes to a slew of teammates, including freakish 6-foot-8 freshman forward Nemanja Mikic (17 points on 6-for-9 FG) and
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Taylor's distribution of wealth would bode well for the Colonials, which always performs better with relative balance in the score sheet.
Taylor, who turned in an epic 54-point eruption during the Slam Dunk Challenge at the Westchester County Center while playing for Archbishop Stepinac (where he and Melquan Bolding created a vaunted 1-2 punch), followed up with 16 points and six dimes in a 74-57 thrashing of Charlotte.
GWU's three-game win streak came to a screeching halt when the Colonials were shellacked, 57-41, to Temple. NBA prospect Lavoy Allen, who once exposed current Detroit Piston Greg Monroe in a showdown, scored 19 points and tore down 16 rebounds to lead the No.24 Owls.
Taylor turned in an Alaska-cold shooting night, connecting on just 2-of-12 from the field. He finished with a meager five points.
Buoyed by a 30-point, eight-assist outburst during 2010 Empire State Game, Taylor has embraced the adept, high-volume scorer within him. Last season, Taylor was a dish-first point guard and wound up leading the team in assists, racking up 129 on the season.
Partly at the coaches' urging, partly at the 6-foot-1 guard's enhanced leadership, he has taken scoring issues into his own hands this season.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound guard also boasts a basketball bloodline. Taylor's cousin, Jordan Bronner, also from Sleepy Hollow, found his way to the starting lineup at University of New Hampshire as a freshman this season.
