George Mason led by six with 13 minutes left, but a 22-2 VCU run lifted the Rams to a 72-66 win Wednesday night.
A late Patriots run cut it to four (70-66) with under a minute to go, but the Rams were able to hold on for the win.
Graduate student D’Shawn Schwartz led the Patriots (13-13, 6-7 A-10) with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting and and dished out a pair of assists in 36 minutes. It marked his eighth 20+ point game of the season.
Junior Josh Oduro added 13 points (6-of-8 FG) and seven rebounds, despite playing only 24 minutes due to foul trouble.
Fellow junior Xavier Johnson dished out a game-high five assists while adding seven points and four rebounds in 28 minutes.
VCU (19-7, 12-3 A-10) turned 18 Mason turnovers into a +5 (18-13) edge in points off turnovers. The Rams also made 20-of-27 free throws and held a +14 (20-6) scoring edge at the charity stripe.
VCU scored the first 10 points of the game, but Mason roared back with nine straight, capped by a Ronald Polite III 3-pointer, to make it 10-9. VCU moved the edge back to seven at 20-13, then pushed it to 12 (32-20) with 6:16 to go in the stanza. Mason utilized a 9-2 spurt to get back within five (34-29) and trailed by that margin at the half (39-34).
The Patriots rocketed out of the gate in the second half, using a 9-0 run to move ahead by four (43-39) at the 14:19 mark. Mason pushed the lead to six (48-42) with under 13 minutes to play, but at that point, the Rams utilized the 22-2 run to take control of the game.
Mason returns home for a Revolutionary Rivalry contest vs. George Washington Sunday. The 2:30 p.m. contest inside EagleBank Arena will be broadcast nationally on USA Network.
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