George Mason and VCU are two of the hottest teams in the country. All eyes are on Saturday, Feb. 22, when the top two in the A-10 meet in the Siegel Center.
Mason and VCU kept pace with each other in their mid-week games. The Patriots (20-5, 11-1 A-10, NET: 65) made it 10 straight with a 76-74 OT win at Saint Louis (14-11, 7-5 A-10, NET: 112) on Tuesday.
Last night, VCU (20-5, 10-2 A-10, NET: 36) defeated George Washington (16-9, 5-7 A-10, NET: 128), 80-72, in DC.
The Rams trailed 21-10 midway through the first half, and it 46-43 GW with 16:16 remaining, but grad forward Jack Clark buried a three-pointer at the 16:07 mark to ignite a 24-9 VCU run over the next nine minutes.
Another Clark three with 11:08 left provided the Rams with their first real breathing room of the game at 58-51.
A fadeaway jumper in the paint by grad guard Max Shulga pushed VCU’s lead to 67-55 with 6:44 remaining.
GW would pull within 72-68 with 2:05 on the clock, but two Jackson free throws and a baseline drive and dunk by Bamisile cemented the VCU victory
Clark had 18 points to lead VCU, which also got 14 points from Joe Bamisile.
The Rams have the weekend off. Their next one: at home on Wednesday, with UMass (11-14, 6-6 A-10, NET: 181).
Mason’s win at Saint Louis was its fifth straight in games decided by five points or less and third consecutive overtime triumph.
The Patriots led 66-59 with 2:12 to go, but two second-chance threes helped pull SLU within one (68-67) with 13 seconds to go in regulation.
Billups made two free throws on the other end, but Isaiah Swope hit a long three with 1.6 seconds left to send the game to overtime (70-70).
In the extra session, GM held the Billikens to just 1-of-6 shooting (.167) and got a three-pointer from Darius Maddox and two big free throws from Jared Billups to push the visitors to the win.
“That was an unbelievable win,” head coach Tony Skinn said. “Time and time again, our team has shown such resilience. It speaks to the growth of some of our older guys who were with us last year and were on the other end of some of these close games. These guys are connected and I think we’re seeing something special. I’m just proud of them because this is a tough place to win.”
Senior Woody Newton led the charge with the best offensive game of his career. He poured in a career-best 27 points and made a personal-best eight three-pointers on 12 attempts.
Maddox added 14 points, six rebounds and two assists.
Next up, George Mason returns home for a nationally-televised battle with Saint Joseph’s (15-9, 6-5 A-10, NET: 86).
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Chris Graham
