George Mason jumped out to a 19-4 lead early, then went ice cold on its way to a 61-49 defeat to St. Bonaventure Wednesday night in EagleBank Arena.
The Patriots made five of their first seven 3-pointers in the first six minutes of the game. But after that, Mason could muster just 30 points in the final 34 minutes as the Bonnies took control in the second half with a +16 (34-18) advantage.
Mason (11-4, 0-2) now heads to Philadelphia for a battle with La Salle Saturday at 2 p.m.
“The Bonnies really turned it up in the second half,” head coach Dave Paulsen said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player impact the game so much and score eight points [Osun Osunniyi]. We really struggled against their matchup zone. We got really good looks in the first half and then our guys got a little tentative. We looked tremendous the first 15 minutes, but our toughness getting to the 50-50 balls and battling adversity needs to get better.”
The Patriots made 7-of-13 3-pointers (.583) in the opening half but connected on just 1-of-10 (.100) in the second half. The Bonnies shot 50 percent from 3 (6-12) in the deciding second half and held a +20 (44-24) edge on the glass. SBU turned 15 offensive rebounds into a 17-5 edge in second chance points.
Redshirt-junior AJ Wilson led Mason with 11 points, six rebounds and five blocks. Senior Justin Kier added 11 points (4-8 FG), three assists and made 3-of-6 3-pointers, while Javon Greene tallied nine points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
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