George Mason rode a strong defensive performance to a 72-62 win at Massachusetts on Sunday afternoon inside the Mullins Center.
Mason (11-7, 4-1 A-10) limited the Minutemen’s top-35 offense to just 31.7 percent from the floor (19-60), marking just the second time this season the team has been held to under 35 percent shooting.
The Patriots also held UMass’ top-4 3-point offense (entered the game at .400) to 32.1 percent (9-28).
The Patriots led by 10 at the half (37-27) and went up by as many as 22 (68-46) in the second half en route to the team’s fourth-straight win.
“This was another good A-10 basketball game, a battle,” head coach Kim English said. “Our guys competed and executed the game plan. We know UMass is an incredible offensive team. It’s what they excel at. We wanted to make this a defensive game as much as we could. They’ve had some great wins here, including Rutgers and Penn State. We beat a team that’s going to win some games the rest of the season.”
The Patriots shot over 50 percent for the third-consecutive game (.510, 26-51) and made 10-of 23 3-pointers (.435) on the day.
Three student-athletes reached double figures for the Green & Gold, led by graduate student D’Shawn Schwartz, who tallied a game-high 15 points (6-11 FG) to go along with three assists in 31 minutes. It marked his eighth-straight game with at least 14 points.
Junior Davonte Gaines tallied 14 points and eight rebounds in 34 minutes, while graduate student DeVon Cooper notched 12 points, four assists and three steals while making 3 of 4 3-pointers on the day.
Junior point guard Xavier Johnson matched his career best with nine assists while chipping in eight points and six rebounds.
Off the bench, sophomore Otis Frazier III provided a huge spark in the first half and finished with six points while tying a career high with six rebounds on the day.
The Patriots scored the first seven points of the game, but UMass (9-11, 2-6 A-10) rallied with the next 11 to go up four at the 14:45 mark of the opening stanza. UMass led 19-15 at the 11:45 mark of the half, but the Patriots rattled off five in a row to go up 20-19. The two teams played to a 25-25 tie, before Mason put together a 12-2 run to end the half. That spurt gave the Patriots a 37-27 edge at the break.
UMass cut it to five (37-32) early in the second half, but the Patriots used an 18-4 run midway through the period to build a 20-point edge (57-37) with 13 minutes to play. The Minutemen could not cut the deficit to single digits for the remainder of the contest.
Next up, the Patriots return home to take on A-10 title contender Saint Louis (14-6, 5-2). Tip-off on Wednesday is set for 7 p.m. inside EagleBank Arena. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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