Twenty minutes had elapsed in the GW men’s basketball team’s game with Virginia Tech Saturday at the Smith Center, and the young Hokies, who had lost six straight games, led the 17-3 Colonials 39-34 to the dismay of a Homecoming sellout crowd of 5,454.

However, in the first 12:30 of the second half, junior guard Shawnta Rogers scored 13 points, the more experienced Colonials intensified their defense and Virginia Tech collapsed beneath a key 29-10 GW run. The Hokies never recovered and lost 75-61.

“In the second half, they raised their level of intensity,” Virginia Tech Coach Bobby Hussey said. “They’re a veteran team and they’re very good defensively. They took us out of what we were doing in the first half.”

Rogers scored GW’s first 10 points of the second half. In all, Rogers and fellow Lake Clifton High School graduate Mike King scored GW’s first 22 points of the second half.

“He hit some big shots. He’s 5-4 of heart,” Hussey said of Rogers. “King was a great addition to their team. I wish Santa had brought me something like that. All Santa brought me was a lot of losses.”

GW (18-3, 7-1 Atlantic 10) held Virginia Tech (6-12, 1-7 A-10) to 30 percent shooting in the second half. Meanwhile, GW made 60 percent of its second-half shots. Rogers finished with 24 points, 15 in the second half, and seven assists. King had 14 points, and senior center Alexander Koul added 12 points and five rebounds.

Hussey, whose team starts two freshmen and two sophomores, said GW’s experience and depth made the difference in the second half.

“They’ve got players who have been through a lot of battles, but we’ll get there. Some day Rolan Roberts won’t be a freshman,” he said.

Roberts led the Hokies with 19 points, but was held to just five points in the second half.

Virginia Tech has two seniors on the entire team and returned only six players from last year.

“They’re a dangerous team,” GW head coach Mike Jarvis said. “We’ve got a little more experience and a little more depth.”

Rogers said being more experienced has helped the Colonials win more close games this season. GW, which was 15-14 last season, is 18-3 and has won five games in a row.

In addition, forward Yegor Mescheriakov returned to the lineup Saturday. Mescheriakov, GW’s leading scorer, played for the first time since spraining his right ankle three games ago. However, Mescheriakov came off the bench, played only 12 minutes and scored just two points. Jarvis said Mescheriakov is just getting back into shape and should be more effective this weekend when GW travels to La Salle and St. Joseph’s.

Roberts and freshman guard Jenis Grindstaff sparked the Hokies in the first half. Roberts made six of his 10 first-half shots, including several off-balance jump shots. Grindstaff had seven points, six rebounds and four assists in the first half.

Virginia Tech made 55 percent of its shots in the half and went on an 11-2 run to take a 37-28 lead with 2:30 remaining in the first half. The Hokies led by five points at halftime.

However, Rogers got GW started in the second half with a 15-foot jump shot. Rogers then hit consecutive three-pointers and forced Virginia Tech to switch out of its zone defense. On the next possession, Rogers drove inside and was fouled. He made the free throws and suddenly GW was ahead 44-41 with 16:39 remaining.

Rogers made another three-pointer with 15:30 remaining to give the Colonials a 49-44 lead.

King then started hitting shots. King spun away from his defender and made a beautiful fall-away jump shot. King followed with two finger rolls, the second of which put GW ahead 60-49 with 9:05 left. GW continued to pull away, eventually building its lead to as many as 18 points.

“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Rogers said of making seven of his 12 shots, including six three-pointers. “We’re hungry and that’s what’s making us successful right now.”

Jarvis said the Colonials did not play good defense during the first half, which allowed Virginia Tech to take the lead. However, Jarvis said his team’s week-long layoff was not why GW started the game sluggishly. In addition, Jarvis said Rogers did not start the game because he “forgot to put on his game jersey.”

With the win GW remains in first place in the A-10 West Division and may be ranked in this week’s Associated Press’ Top 25 Poll. The Colonials were ranked 26th last week by the AP.

“We’re not worried about the Top 25,” Rogers said. “We’re worried about getting wins.”

“They’re a top-20 team,” Hussey said. “They’ve got size, depth and experience. Not many people are going to come in here and win.”

So far this season no one has beaten GW in the Smith Center. The Colonials are 9-0 at home.