Richmond defeats upset-minded George Mason, 65-50

George Mason held Richmond 10 points under its season average and limited UR to 18.8 percent (3-of-16) from beyond the arc, but the Spiders did enough to earn a 65-50 win Wednesday night.

Mason (14-12, 3-10 A-10) struggled taking care of the ball (19 turnovers), which the Spiders (20-6, 10-3 A-10) turned into a 19-2 edge in points off turnovers for the game. The Patriots also shot 39.1 percent (18-46) for the game and made 4-of-17 attempts (.235) from beyond the arc.

“I was disappointed with our offensive execution and they [Richmond] certainly put us in challenging situations where we really struggled,” head coach Dave Paulsen said. “You have to give Richmond lots of credit for becoming a really good defensive team.”

Mason held a 31-28 edge on the glass, but Richmond got a number of key offensive rebounds which led to kick out 3-pointers after the Patriots had played a full shot clock of good defense. UR held a +8 (16-8) edge in second chance points for the game.

Sophomore Jordan Miller led Mason with 11 points, nine rebounds and two assists in the game, while junior Javon Greene added 11 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Junior Greg Calixte added a season-best nine points (4-6 FG) and grabbed seven rebounds in 19 minutes on the floor.

Redshirt-junior AJ Wilson chipped in six points while continuing to battle an ankle sprain sustained in Saturday’s game vs. George Washington.

The two teams played to a 7-7 tie before the Spiders used a 10-0 spurt to build a 17-7 lead at the 13:32 mark of the stanza. A Josh Oduro lay-in cut the lead to six (21-15) with 8:17 to play in the period and Mason was again within six at 25-19. The Patriots limited the Spiders to just one of their final eight field goal attempts of the half, but Mason was 1-of-10 on the other end as Richmond took a 26-19 edge into the break.

The Patriots scored the first four points of the second half to move within three (26-23), but UR used a 6-0 run to bring the lead back to nine (34-25) at the 17:14 mark of the second half. A 3-pointer by Jamal Hartwell II cut the Spider edge to four (34-30) with 15:20 to go, but that’s as close as Mason would get, as UR built the lead back to 10 (40-30) and kept the deficit around that margin for much of the remainder of the contest.

Mason now returns home for its annual Homecoming Game. Tip-off Saturday between the Patriots and Saint Joseph’s is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network.