Fifth seed George Mason used a superb defensive effort over the final six minutes of action to power past No. 12 George Washington 61-57 on Thursday afternoon in the Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals.
Mason (18-14) trailed by five (52-47) with 6:22 remaining, but held the Colonials to just two points over the next 6:19 as the Patriots locked in to overcome an offensive effort where the Green & Gold were getting good looks but could get many of them to fall.
With the victory, Mason advances to the A-10 Quarterfinals for the third-consecutive season. The Green & Gold will battle No. 4 seed St. Bonaventure on Friday at 2:30 p.m. inside the Barclays Center.
Mason has now won four-straight against Revolutionary Rival George Washington.
“I thought we really stepped up our defensive effort in the second half, especially with the offensive adversity we faced,” head coach Dave Paulsen said. “We went 10 deep and every guy who played gave us a key contribution. This is survive and advance time and we’re excited to have survived and advanced to tomorrow.”
Junior Justin Kier picked Mason up during some of its offensive struggles with one of the best games of his Mason career. The Grottoes, Va., product tallied a game-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting. He also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists in 39 of 40 minutes on the floor. His 26 sets a new program record for points in an A-10 Tournament game by a Patriot.
Senior Otis Livingston II added 12 points, including four critical ones during Mason’s late run. Sophomore Javon Greene added seven points despite battling foul trouble, while freshman Jordan Miller grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and chipped in four points, two blocks and two steals in 34 minutes.
Mason limited GW to 35 percent shooting (21-60) for the game, including a paltry 9-of-31 (.290) in the deciding second half.
The Colonials made their first two 3-pointers to take a 6-0 lead, but Mason then limited GW to two of its next 10 as the Patriots climbed ahead by six at 16-10. The Colonials answered with seven straight to take a 17-16 lead, but Mason countered with an 11-2 spurt of their own to go up 27-19 with 4:42 to play in the stanza.
Mason led 31-24 with 2:20 left in the half, but GW rattled off the final seven points of the stanza to tie it up (31-31) at the break.
The Patriots started the second half just 1-of-5 from the floor but remained locked in on the defensive end to keep it tied up at 35-35 four minutes into the period. GW moved back in front by three at 42-39, but Mason used a 5-0 spurt – capped by a Javon Greene 3-pointer – to go up 45-42 with 10:56 remaining.
From there, Mason had a number of open shots over the next few minutes but could not convert them, as GW used a 10-2 spurt to go up 52-47 with just 6:22 to go in the game. At that point, Mason held the Colonials scoreless over the next two and a half minutes, while posting five points of their own to tie it at 52-52 with under four to go.
GW went up 54-52, but Livingston II hit a critical to 3-pointer to give Mason the lead (55-54) with 2:54 to go. Then, Kier hit a difficult jumper to put the Patriots up three (57-54) with 1:29 left.
Mason got it up to five (59-54) and GW could not move closer than four for the remainder of the game.
With the victory, the Patriots now improve to 3-0 all time in the A-10 second round.
The Patriots now move on to Friday quarterfinal action against No. 4 seed St. Bonaventure. The game will tip at 2:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network. Mason and SBU split a pair of regular season meetings in 2018-19.