Officials called 54 fouls in GW’s 94-74 win over the Texas A&M University Saturday night at the Smith Center. Nearly 30 percent (46 points) of the game’s 168 points were made at the foul line.

It was a funny game with all the whistles, GW head coach Tom Penders said. It was a parade to the foul line.

Fans looking for a high-paced, free-flowing basketball game did not get one because of the constant stoppages of play.

A new NCAA mandate encourages referees to be quick with the whistle and is bound to slow games down. Penders said he received a film two weeks ago about how the referees would call games.

They said just touches and a hand in the back in the post is going to be called, Penders said. That has been a point of emphasis from the national headquarters, so these officials are coming out and really blowing their whistles.

Penders said the changes are needless.

They officiated the game the way they were told to, Penders said. Why mess with something that does not need fixing? But, we have some bureaucrats that sit and say, `how can we get our name in the paper and change this game.’

Last year the Colonials averaged about 20 points a game off free throws. Against Texas A&M Saturday night, GW scored 31 points from the line. Penders said fans will not want sit through long and drawn-out games, despite a crowd of almost 4,300 people that showed up for the season opener.

We should be trying to get people into the building, Penders said. I think if games are going to be called that way, people are going to be protesting. We won by 20 and I’m concerned our fans aren’t going to come back to see us on Monday (against Old Dominion).

Penders said he told his team before the game to be prepared for a lot of whistles. Sophomore Chris Monroe, who led the team at the line by going 13-of-17 was prepared and used the tight game to his advantage.

I saw (the officials) were calling the game tight so I just took advantage of it going inside and seeing what they would call, Monroe said.

The Colonials connected on 31-of-46 (.674) free throw attempts.

The Aggies seemed flustered by the officiating. Head Coach Melvin Watkins said the tight game disrupted his young team, which started three sophomores and a freshman.

We were very timid tonight, Watkins said. Some of it was the officiating. That got us out of sync and with the young kids that was a distraction we couldn’t handle tonight.