Jan. 26, 2006

Box Score

The Green Team made its first appearance of the season and what a difference they made on Thursday night. Mason rallied behind its bench after falling behind midway through the first half as the subs ignited a 29-12 run that allowed the Patriots to eventually pull away from William & Mary, downing the Tribe 81-58 in Colonial Athletic Association action.

Mason shot .659 from the field in the game, the 5th-best shooting performance in school history. The Patriots were 14 of 14 from the free-throw line, tying a school record. Jai Lewis was 9 of 10 from the field, tying for the fourth-best individual single-game performance.

Mason (14-5, 8-2) will face Old Dominion on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a televised game between two of the three teams tied for first place in the CAA standings.

Through the first 18 games of the 2005-06 season, Mason head coach Jim Larranaga substituted for his starters in conventional fashion. On Thursday, he returned to his traditional method of bringing five fresh players off the bench at once. It made quite a difference as Gabe Norwood, Sammy Hernandez, Jordan Carter, Tim Burns and Chris Fleming allowed one field goal and forced three turnovers during their 5:35 on the court.

By contrast, starters Lamar Butler, Tony Skinn, Folarin Campbell, Will Thomas and Jai Lewis had allowed the Tribe to shoot 6 of 9 from the field while managing just a pair of field goals in the game's first seven minutes. When those five returned to the game they struggled again until finally warming up with 5:15 to play. With the game tied 22-22, Mason went on a 16-6 run to take a double-digit halftime lead.

William & Mary (5-13, 0-9) was not to be deterred, however, opening the second half with a 14-6 run that cut Mason's lead to two. But Mason responded with an inside basket by Lewis, some free throws from Butler, a 3-pointer by Skinn and some strong defense to regain control of the game. Mason went on a 25-8 run that put the game away and brought the Green Team back on the floor to finish the game.

Lewis finished with his sixth double-double of the year, scoring 22 points with 11 rebounds. Skinn added 12 and Butler had 10. Junior Makan Konate scored the first points of his Mason career in the final minute to ice the game. Calvin Baker had 15 points to lead William & Mary while Corey Cofield had 11.