Dec. 21, 2006

Worcester, Mass. - The George Mason men's basketball team will take on Holy Cross on Thursday night at the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. The Patriots are set to meet the Crusaders at 7 p.m. as Holy Cross looks to avenge its worst loss of the 2005-06 season and its worst defeat since late 1999. Mason downed the Crusaders 71-38 at the Patriot Center last season.

Mason has alternated wins with losses this season and the 4-4 Patriots hope that trend will continue as Mason's last outing was a road defeat at Duke. Of Mason's four losses, two have been to teams currently in the national top 10, one is to a team that was ranked nationally in the preseason and the fourth played in the NCAA Tournament last year, advancing to the second round.

Last year's meeting was the first-ever between the two schools. Mason got 54 of its 71 points from a trio of seniors who have since graduated. Holy Cross was paced by Torey Thomas, who scored 16 points and had six rebounds. Thomas is currently second on the team with 11.7 points and 4.4 rebounds. Keith Simmons leads the Crusaders with 17.0 points and he is second with 6.1 rebounds. He had four points and three rebounds in last year's game.

Mason's game will be a Homcoming of Sorts for seniors Tim Burns and Makan Konate, as they played high school basketball at Worcester Academy. Head student manager Sean Passey also is from Worcester. Most prominent among those returning home is George Mason Assistant Vice President/Director of Athletics Tom O'Connor. The member of the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee went to college at Assumption and coached basketball at Clinton High School. Both are in Worcester.

Mason will catch a break on Thursday night as the Crusaders will be without starter Pat Doherty, who also missed Holy Cross' Tuesday night game against Providence.