
– stock.adobe.com)
George Mason, a bit of a surprise, is still atop the A-10 basketball standings at the midpoint of the 2024-2025 conference season.
Mason, picked sixth in the preseason, maintained its hold on first place in the A-10 with a 64-60 road win at Davidson on Saturday.
Gotta like what GMU alum Tony Skinn is doing at Mason (16-5, 8-1 A-10, NET: 70) is doing in Year 2, after leading the Patriots to a 20-12 mark in his first season.
Mason led by 16 with 10:32 to go, but a 14-4 Davidson run got the lead down to six, and the Wildcats (13-8, 3-5 A-10, NET: 127) got it down to two, at 62-60, in the closing seconds, before the Patriots were able to close the game out.
“I’m extremely proud of our team,” said Skinn, who was a star on Jim Larranaga’s 2006 Final Four team. “It was another resilient effort on the road. These guys have really bought into what our identity is. Down the stretch, things got a little chippy, and some things didn’t go in our favor. But we found a way to stay together. A road win is a road win, and all the credit goes to these guys.”
VCU (17-5, 7-2 A-10, NET: 42) kept pace with a 90-49 blowout of Richmond (7-15, 2-7 A-10, NET: 255).
Max Shulga scored a game-high 20 points, and VCU shot a season-best 65 percent from the field as the Rams notched their most lopsided win over Richmond in series history.