Feb. 23, 2006

Box Score

Hempstead, N.Y. - The George Mason basketball team played for the first time in school history as a ranked squad and now know what it feels like to be a marked target. The Patriots saw their eight-game winning streak snapped on Thursday night as Mason became the 19th-straight team to lose at Hofstra, falling to the Pride, 77-66 in front of 4,210 fans. It was the first time in 24 games that the Patriots allowed an opponent to score 70 or more points.

Hofstra (21-5, 13-4) was superior on the boards and the 12 offensive rebounds were just icing on the cake as the Pride made 48.3 percent of their shots in the win. The loss for Mason could knock the Patriots out of sole possession of first place in the Colonial Athletic Association. Should UNC Wilmington win at VCU later on Thursday, the Patriots would be tied with UNC Wilmington and the Seahawks hold the tiebreaker should the teams remain tied after Saturday's season finales.

The 25th-ranked Patriots (21-6, 14-3) fell behind by double digits after a 14-2 run by Hofstra midway through the first half. Mason had chances to rally in the second half but never got closer than three, 65-62 on a Folarin Campbell layup with 4:12 to play. Antoine Agudio scored in traffic at the other end and Aurimas Kieza slammed home an alley-oop as Hofstra earned its first-ever win over a ranked opponent.

Hofstra's home winning streak is tied for the second-longest in the nation with Duke. Gonzaga has won 36 straight. The Pride played well with the lead, consistently feeding off the home crowd to answer every Mason run.

With a little more than eight minutes to go in the first half, Mason found itself ahead 22-19. The pace of the game was very much to the Patriots liking. That would change very quickly. After Lamar Butler scored his eighth straight point on a fastbreak layup, Hofstra used a timeout to regroup. The Pride went on a 14-2 run that put them in control of the game.

Antoine Agudio began the run with his first points of the game, a layup high off the backboard. Loren Stokes followed with a pair of baskets before Jai Lewis was able to get inside and pull Mason to within one, 25-24. But Aurimas Kieza and Agudio answered with 3-pointers and Stokes hit another basket before Lewis scored again to make it 33-26.

Hofstra was able to keep up the hot shooting, taking a 41-33 lead into the break. The Pride made 17 of 31 shots in the first half and outrebounded Mason 16-12. They also made 5 of 6 from 3-point range. Mason didn't shoot badly for its part, making 15 of 29, but just 3 of 8 from behind the arc.

Tony Skinn scored the 1,000th point of his career on a reverse layup early in the second half. He joined teammates Lamar Butler and Jai Lewis as members of the 1,000-point club. It is just the second time in school history that a Mason team has had a trio of 1,000 point scorers. Skinn is 25th on the schools career scoring list.

Mason returns to action on Saturday when the Patriots host James Madison.