Dec. 4, 2009

The George Mason men's basketball team will head to Wilmington, N.C. this weekend for the first Colonial Athletic Association game of the season for both teams as the Patriots take on the Seahawks on Saturday at 5 p.m. in a game televised on MASN and broadcast on WTNT 570.

Mason (3-4) will look to avoid its first three-game losing streak since February of 2007 when Mason lost home games to Old Dominion and Hofstra and a road game at VCU. The Patriots dropped games last Saturday at Tulane, 76-71, and on Wednesday at George Washington, 66-49.

After opening the season with a 1-4 record, the Seahawks have won back-to-back games to improve to 3-4 on the season. The season opened with a road loss at Appalachian State and a home defeat at the hands of George Washington. After beating Penn State at the Charleston Classic, UNCW fell to Miami and South Florida. A home win over VMI and a road win at Elon followed.

The Seahawks are averaging 78 points per game while allowing 73.7. They are shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 38.8 percent from 3-point range while allowing teams to shoot 42.4 percent from the field and just 24.5 percent from behind the arc. Chad Tomko is averaging 16.5 points and 4.8 assists while shooting better than 52 percent from the field. John Fields is averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds with 2.5 blocks while shooting 65 percent from the field. Johnny Wolf is averaging 8.3 points while shooting 84 percent from the free throw line.

The Seahawks were swept in the season series last year as Mason won at Trask Coliseum for the second time under head coach Jim Larranaga. Mason's two wins at UNCW under Coach L have come by a combined three points. The Patriots have actually won the past three meetings between the teams dating back to the 2008 CAA Tournament when Mason eliminated the Seahawks in the semifinals en route to the CAA title.

Cam Long leads the Patriots this season with 12.1 points and 2.7 assists. Luke Hancock is averaging 11.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 53.7 percent from the field, third-best in the CAA. Ryan Pearson, Andre Cornelius and Mike Morrison are scoring 9.8, 9.7 and 8.3 points, respectively. Morrison is grabbing 7.1 boards and Pearson is averaging 5.7 rebounds. Kevin Foster is averaging 7.0 points and 5.4 rebounds off the bench.