In a two-point game like GW’s 61-59 loss to Saint Joseph’s Wednesday night, any number of things could be viewed as the difference between victory and defeat. Yet it would be difficult to fault junior Rob Diggs, who turned in a 20-point, 10-rebound performance on career-high 10-for-10 shooting from the field. His emphatic baskets sparked the Smith Center crowd into a frenzy at numerous points in the game, and none more than his reverse alley-oop dunk off of a mid-court pass from Wynton Witherspoon in the second half.

After the game, Diggs was reluctant to discuss his individual performance, instead focusing on his team’s quest to improve and snap its losing streak. When he finally did get around to the subject, he seemed more motivated than satisfied.

“I’m doing all right,” he said. “There’s a lot more I can be doing. I’m going to keep trying, keep practicing and keep going at it every day, trying to get better.”

Saint Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli said he had no answer for Diggs during his double-double effort.

“Nothing. We didn’t do anything,” Martelli said when asked what his team did to stop Diggs. “We changed our post defense and that was a one-on-one matchup that we lost.”

GW head coach Karl Hobbs had nothing but praise for the forward he called his “best player.”

“I thought he had a fabulous game,” Hobbs said. “Whenever we got the ball in to him, he delivered . Unfortunately for us, he fouled out.”

That was perhaps the lone blemish for Diggs. With his team trailing and less than three minutes to play, Diggs collected his fourth personal foul. He stayed in the game, collecting his fifth and final foul with 1:41 to play and his team down five. The Hawks maintained control for the next minute, with Diggs only able to watch from the bench. The Colonials rallied to threaten the Hawks before ultimately falling short of what would have been their first win in nearly three weeks.

Over GW’s five consecutive losses, its longest such streak since 2003, Diggs has consistently produced, averaging 14.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. The rest of the Colonials has been largely sporadic. In the loss to the Hawks, senior Maureece Rice managed only five points while sophomore Damian Hollis connected on just one of his seven shot attempts.

For the Colonials to turn things around, Hobbs said the rest of his players need to increase their collective offensive contribution.

“(Diggs) has been the one that’s scoring,” he said. “Now we’ve got to get some other guys to join the party.”