The George Mason men’s basketball team got within one possession in the final 20 seconds of the game but was unable to net the game-winning score as the Patriots were edged by Old Dominion, 69-65, in Colonial Athletic Association action on Saturday afternoon before 8,344 fans at the Constant Center. The loss drops the Patriots to 2-2 in CAA play and 10-5 overall, while the Monarchs, the league’s defending champion, improved to 12-3 (3-1 CAA).
Senior Cam Long scored a season-high 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting to lead three Patriots in double figures, as junior Ryan Pearson and sophomore Luke Hancock each chipped in 13 points. Frank Hassell scored 18 points to lead a quartet of Monarchs in double digits. Going up against the nation’s fourth-best rebounding squad, the Patriots pulled down 31 boards compared to 35 for the Monarchs, but the home team outscored Mason 23-8 on second chance opportunities.
Mason led 5-2 early on, and continued to hold the advantage until James’s 3-pointer at the 17:19 mark put the Monarchs ahead, 7-5. Hancock’s layup tied the score, but the Monarchs went on to lead by as many as three before Long’s trey tied the score once again at 14, part of an 8-0 run which put the Patriots ahead, 19-14. ODU erased that margin with an 8-0 run of their own. The one-sided scoring returned to Mason, on a 6-0 spree which returned the advantage to the Green and Gold.
The Monarchs twice tied the score, including at 30 where it stayed for nearly a minute and a half, before a pair of free throws and a Finney layup made it 34-30 in favor of ODU which ended up as the halftime score. Long accounted for half of the Patriot scoring including a 3-for-3 performance from beyond the arc.
ODU increased its lead to 39-32 in the fledgling moments of the second half, but the Patriots whittled the advantage away, regaining the lead at 43-42 on a layup by Tate with 14:21 showing on the clock. That was part of an 11-3 run which stretched more than five minutes. Three more times the lead changed hands before a 12-4 run by the Monarchs made it 54-47 with under eight minutes to go.
Mason continued to trail for until the final two minutes, cutting it to 63-62 with 2:41 remaining when Pearson drained a 3-pointer and then tying the score at 65 on Long’s fourth trey. After a bucket by Hassell, the Monarchs went ahead 67-65. Scoreless for the next 1:18 seconds, the Patriots had the ball with under 20 seconds to go and a Andre Cornelius 3-point attempt from the top of the key hit back iron. Hassell was fouled after the ODU rebound and sank both attempts of a one-and-one to hold off the Patriots in the four-point victory.
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Chris Graham
