Junior Andre Cornelius scored a season-high 25 points on a career night beyond the arc, and the George Mason men’s basketball team tallied its 10th straight victory, a 78-63 decision over UNC Wilmington on Tuesday evening at Trask Coliseum. The victory is Mason’s 20th of the season, the fifth time under head coach Jim Larranaga that Mason has reached that mark.
Mason improved to 20-5 and maintained at least a share of first place in the CAA standings at 12-2 in league play. UNCW dropped to 11-14 (5-9 CAA) after the loss.
Cornelius, whose seven treys set a new career high, was joined in double figures by senior Cam Long and junior Ryan Pearson who contributed 17 and 13 points, respectively. UNCW’s Chad Tomko scored 20 points to lead the Seahawks. Mason shot 63 percent from the field in the second half (17-27) to pull away in the second half despite a one-point halftime lead.
Long’s spot-up 3-pointer at the 18:40 mark gave Mason the early lead, holding the Seahawks off the scoreboard for nearly three minutes. It was part of a bigger 10-3 run spanning the opening 6:26 of the game. The Patriots, meanwhile, had trouble finding their scoring midway through the first half as UNCW got within a basket at 10-8. Cornelius ended a scoring drought of more than three minutes with a three from the left corner. That sparked a run of five straight which moved the lead back to seven points.
UNCW would work that deficit back to three at 17-14 before five straight Mason points gave Mason its largest lead of the game to that point, 22-14, with six minutes remaining in the first half. A 13-5 stretch by the Seahawks chipped away at the lead, eventually tying the score for the first time at 27 on a 3-pointer by Deloach inside of three minutes. The first Seahawk lead came from the free throw line as Matt Wilson hit one of two to make it 28-27.
Cornelius drained a 24-foot trey to give the lead back to Mason, and the Seahawks cut it to one inside of a minute left. With less than 10 seconds to go, Cornelius had a shot from beyond the arc that rimmed out and sent the Patriots to the halftime locker room, leading 31-30.
Mason found a streak early in the second half, pushing its lead to double digits thanks to a 11-2 run that made it 49-37. The Patriots led by as many as 13, would see the Seahawks put together a 6-0 run and cut the gap to seven. Once again, Cornelius answered with a trey to push the lead to 56-46. Again, the Seahawks countered and cut it to 59-53. That would be the closest the Seahawks would get as a 13-2 run gave Mason a 17-point lead.
Share
Contributors
