George Mason completed a momentum-building, 87-84 OT victory against Richmond Wednesday night before a boisterous crowd inside EagleBank Arena.
Mason (12-10, 5-4 A-10) trailed 70-67 with 1:48 to go and 72-70 with 38 seconds left in regulation, but each time, the Patriots answered with clutch baskets, including a 3-pointer from D’Shawn Schwartz (70-70) and lay-in from Josh Oduro (70-70).
Mason led by as many as six in the overtime session (83-77), then got two big stops as the game tightened up late to hang on for the win. The Patriots were a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the overtime session.
“Our guys just continue to battle,” head coach Kim English said. “We missed some of our marks, but we got stops on command at the end. Our guys really dug in and they continue to do that, even in games when we don’t play well. I’m so proud of them. I told them with three minutes to go in overtime that we deserved to win this game, and they did exactly what they needed to do to get the win.”
Oduro returned after a two-game absence (concussion protocol) and made a tremendous impact, posting career highs in rebounds (14) and assists (5) to go along with 22 points and two blocks in 39 minutes. It marked Oduro’s fourth double-double of the season.
Graduate student D’Shawn Schwartz added a critical 24 points and tied his career high with six 3-pointers made on 11 attempts (.545). Schwartz notched 12 of his points over the final eight minutes of the game (regulation and overtime).
Elsewhere, junior Xavier Johnson put forth another outstanding effort for the Green & Gold, registering 18 points (6-11 FG, 3-5 3pt FG) to go along with a team-high nine assists. He’s shooting 55.6 from 3pt range over the past three contests.
Graduate student DeVon Cooper rounded out the double figure scoring for Mason, tallying 11 points while making a trio of 3-pointers in 38 minutes.
Mason made 14 3-pointers on 34 attempts (.412) and held a 32-26 edge in points in the paint for the game.
After turning it over 16 times and holding a -11 deficit in points off turnovers (21-10) in Monday’s loss to the Spiders (16-9, 7-5 A-10), the Patriots reversed that showing in Fairfax Wednesday. Mason committed just eight turnovers and held a +4 (14-10) edge in points off Richmond miscues for the game.
The Patriots now remain at home for an important A-10 showdown with intra-state rival VCU (15-7, 8-3 A-10) on Homecoming Saturday. Tip-off between the Patriots and Rams is set for 4 p.m. The game will be televised on MASN2.
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