Liberty holds off George Mason in battle of Commonwealth NIT teams, 77-71

Pretty good college basketball game up in Fairfax last night, with a Liberty team that was NCAA-bound until suffering an upset in the Conference USA Tournament last week getting the 77-71 win over a George Mason team that was on the NCAA bubble through mid-February.

Mason (23-10) trailed by 15 early in the second half, and was down 11 with nine minutes left, but rallied to tie the game with 1:17 to go, before Liberty (26-7) closed things out at the line.

Jahari Long led all scorers with 27 points (9-of-17 FG, 4-of-7 3FG, 5-of-6 FT).

Josh Smith had 23 points (7-of-9 FG, 2-of-2 3FG, 7-of-8 FT) and nine rebounds for the Flames.

This was the second straight NIT appearance for George Mason under third-year coach Tony Skinn (70-31).

“I’ve got aspirations for George Mason,” Skinn said. “We’re going to continue to build our standard. We’ve set the bar pretty high. I think everyone understands what the expectations are. We’re going to take the high road this offseason. The guys who are going to be a part of this family are going to get better, and we’re going to try to get better in the market as well.”