Will Thomas tied a career high with 15 points and the Patriots played some ferocious defense against Virginia Commonwealth as Mason won its first CAA home game of the season, downing the Rams 73-60 at the Patriot Center. For Mason head coach Jim Larranaga, it was his 99th CAA win, second all-time in conference history. He is two wins shy of 150 at Mason and four from 350 for his career.

The Patriots (9-4, 3-1) shot .591 from the field while holding the Rams (8-4, 2-2) to .404 shooting. Heading into the contest, VCU had not allowed any team to shoot better than 51 percent from the field this season. Late 3-pointers from Jamal Shuler allowed the Rams to make the final score respectable but the outcome was hardly in doubt as Mason also outrebounded VCU 34-22. The Rams never led in the game.

Shuler had 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half as he sank four 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes. Folarin Campbell led Mason with 17 points and he and Thomas each had three assists. Thomas and Hernandez led Mason with six rebounds. Alexander Harper added 14 for VCU while Nick George, who averaged 24.5 points per game against the Patriots last year was held to four points on 2 of 7 shooting.

For the 10th game in a row, Mason led at the half. For the second time in five games, five Mason players reached double figures, something which hadn't happened since Feb. 1, 2003 until the Patriots did it on Dec. 21 against Hampton. Part of the reason the Patriots were so successful was points in the paint. Every Mason player that scored, did so at least once in the paint, as the Patriots had 38 points in the paint to 12 for VCU.

Mason got its offense started quickly, jumping out to a 5-0 lead and extending that to 8-2. But the Patriots went into a funk just four minutes into the game, managing just two points over a more than five-minute long stretch. During that time, the Rams managed to rally and tie the score at 12-12.

Mason responded with a 7-0 run but VCU scored six unanswered, eventually tying the game at 21-21 with 6:34 to play in the half. From there, though, the Patriots dominated until the break. Will Thomas made a pair of free throws, Sammy Hernandez scored inside, Lamar Butler made an acrobatic layup and Thomas had an uncontested dunk off a no-look pass from Sammy Hernandez, and Mason found itself ahead 29-21.

After VCU got baskets from Eric Maynor and Nick George to make it 29-25, Mason closed out the half with a 7-0 run. Tony Skinn made a layup, Chris Fleming had a tip-in and Folarin Campbell drained a 3-pointer for an 11-point lead. Thomas had 12 points at the half on 5 of 6 shooting. He also had four rebounds and two assists. Mason shot .556 in the half while holding VCU to .391 shooting. The Patriots had a huge edge on the glass in the first half, outrebounding VCU, 17-10.

Unlike their previous two games, Mason did not wither early in the second half. The Patriots had led Mississippi State by seven at the break only to trail for most of the second half. Against Northeastern, Mason led by six at intermission, but the Huskies managed a 20-4 run to take a six-point lead. On Thursday, Mason surrendered an early basket before building a 19-point lead behind perimeter baskets from Campbell and Butler.

Sloppy passing allowed VCU to climb back into the game as the Rams managed to cut the lead to nine. But like the first half, Mason was up to the challenge. Butler drained a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock, Thomas made 1 of 2 free throws and Campbell had a baseline dunk to give Mason a 15-point lead.

Virginia Commonwealth stayed alive behind 3-pointers, sinking four of them on their next eight possessions. But the tide turned to Mason for good when Tony Skinn was fouled and VCU head coach Jeff Capel was hit with a technical. The VCU bench received a technical as well and Skinn converted the four technical fouls to put Mason ahead, 62-48. From there the final few minutes played out with Shuler sinking 3-pointers but Mason hitting enough free throws to stay ahead.

The Patriots return to action on Saturday when they host Delaware while VCU heads home to take on Drexel.