The George Mason men’s basketball team picked up its second straight win Saturday night defeating Iona, 86-81, in the Patriot Center. Four Patriots scored in double-figures led by a career-high 23-point night from Marquise Moore as the Patriots improved to 4-6.
Going 13-for-16 from the free throw line, Moore set a new career-high with 23 points. Moore’s career-best 13 free throws helped Mason finish 27-for-34 from the charity stripe on the evening. Shevon Thompson posted his second straight double-double behind 13 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman Isaiah Jackson tied his career-high with 14 points on the evening, while Patrick Holloway rounded out the Patriots in double-figures with 10 points.
Mason shot 43.3 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from three-point range (7-14) led by two treys each from Jackson, Holloway and Corey Edwards. The Patriots converted 17 Iona turnovers into 14 points and picked up 10 steals led by Thompson with three.
Mason led at the halftime break, 45-38, after erasing an early deficit as the Gaels climbed out to an early 10-point advantage by the 16-minute mark. Trailing by eight with 14 minutes to play, Mason posted a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the ballgame on a three-point play from Jalen Jenkins. Vangelis Bebis gave Iona its final lead of the contest hitting a trey at the 11:07 mark, but Edwards responded with a triple to return the lead back to the Patriots. Iona would come within three at the end of the first half, but Jackson and Thompson combined to push Mason’s lead back out to eight.
Mason never trailed in the second half and led by as many as 13 points with 7:08 to play. Moore scored 11 of his 13 second half points from the free throw line as the Patriots went 19-for-25 from the charity stripe in the second half.
The Patriots held the nation’s leading scorer, A.J. English, to 10 points in the contest, his second-lowest output this season. Kelvin Amayo paced the Gaels with 23 points, while Schadrac Casimir and David Laury each finished in double-figures with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Laury posted a double-double with 16 rebounds.
Mason returns to action at Wright State on Tuesday, December 23 at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on Time Warner Ohio and ESPN3.
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