George Mason improves to 8-0 at home with 62-58 win over Richmond to open A-10 play

George Mason remained unbeaten at home this season, clamping down on D to post a 62-58 win over Richmond in the teams’ A-10 opener on Saturday.

Mason (9-5, 1-0 A-10, KenPom: 107) held the Spiders (7-7, 0-1 A-10, KenPom: 101) to 35.5 percent shooting in the second half.

Ronald Polite III led the way on the offensive end for the Green & Gold with a career-best 22 points.

“I’m really proud of our guys’ grit and fight,” Patriots coach Kim English said. “I know how potent their offense can be and we wanted to come into those game with intentionality to make it a defensive game. It didn’t start that way, but the second half absolutely was.”

Josh Oduro notched his league-leading fifth double-double, registering 10 points and 12 rebounds in just 23 minutes due to foul trouble.

Mason held a sizable 38-20 edge in points in the paint for the game to overcome an uncharacteristic 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) performance from three-point range.

George Mason now hits the road for its first A-10 road contest. The Patriots will head to Olean, N.Y., for a matchup with St. Bonaventure (7-7, 1-0 A-10, KenPom: 148) on Wednesday. The game will tip at 7 p.m. and be broadcast on ESPN+.