Nov. 25, 2008

Box Score

Fairfax, Va. - The George Mason men's basketball team closed the game with a 9-0 run as the Patriots had a stellar shooting night and once again outrebounded the opposition, this time taking a 72-60 win over Mount St. Mary's at Patriot Center. After starting the game 1 for 8, Mason shot 28 of 43 the rest of the way as John Vaughan tied a career high with 22 points.

Mason had four players in double figures as Ryan Pearson added 14 points and five rebounds and Louis Birdsong and Darryl Monroe each had 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Cam Long had nine points and four rebounds as Mason shot 56.9 percent from the field while holding Mount St. Mary's to 45.5 percent shooting. Jeremy Goode led the Mount with 22 points but he had just five in the second half as Vaughan, who did not guard in the first half, took over the assignment and shut him down.

The Patriots had led by 13 with 9:32 to play after a Vaughan layup off Birdsong steal. But Mount St. Mary's went on a 17-7 run to make the game tight with 2:59 to play. That's when Cam Long hit a jumper and Vaughan made a pair of free throws to push it to 67-60. Vaughan's 3-pointer with 54 seconds to play made it 70-60 and Long hit two free throws to finish the scoring.

After falling behind 10-2 in the opening minutes, the Patriots used an 11-3 run to tie the score at 13-13. With seven minutes to play in the first half, Mason had managed a two-point lead, 17-15, with freshman Ryan Pearson accounting for nearly half of Mason's points. The game was tight the rest of the half with Darryl Monroe giving Mason a 27-26 lead with seven seconds to play but Jeremy Goode hit a 3-pointer with two second to go to give the Mount a 29-27 lead at the break. Goode accounted for 17 of Mount St. Mary's 29 first-half points going 6 of 7 from the field.