George Mason wins at George Washington, 53-50, holds on to first place in A-10

George Mason locked down its eighth straight win, rallying late to defeat George Washington, 53-50, on Wednesday night.

The win keeps Mason (18-5, 9-1 A-10, NET: 69) atop the A-10 standings, a game ahead of VCU (18-5, 8-2 A-10, NET: 37), which blew out La Salle, 96-66, on Tuesday in Richmond.

The Patriots led 35-22 with 10:07 to go, but GW (15-8, 4-6 A-10, NET: 139) took a 48-47 lead with 3:02 to go on a Christian Jones layup.

Mason got the lead back with 46 seconds on the clock on layup from Jalen Haynes, who led the Patriots with 17 points, and held on from there.

George Mason has now won 16 of its past 18 games, and the 18-5 start is the best for a Mason team since 2011.

“It’s that time of the year,” head coach Tony Skinn said. “There’s a lot of teams that get put in this situation down the stretch, and they don’t come out with this win. You just have to be able to take it. We were able to squeeze out a win on the road in conference play.”