Nov. 23, 2007

Box Score

Orlando, Fla. - The George Mason men's basketball team faced nationally-ranked teams on back-to-back nights for the first time in school history and after taking a victory on Thursday night, the Patriots were unable to pull off a second-straight upset as Villanova handed Mason its first loss of the year, 84-76 in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla. The Wildcats entered the game No. 19 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 20 in the Associated Press poll.

Folarin Campbell had a career-high 25 points, including 11 of 11 from the free throw line to lead Mason. Dre Smith and Will Thomas each added 15. Scottie Reynolds led Villanova with 21. The Wildcats matched the Patriots on the boards, 33-33, the first time this year Mason has not outrebounded the opposition. Villanova shot 46.6 percent while Mason shot 42.9 percent.

After starting the game flat and in a 7-0 hole, the Patriots used a 30-15 run to take an eight-point lead. Dre Smith ignited things off the bench with three 3-pointers and Cam Long added a traditional 3-point play to account for Mason's first 12 points. Then the Patriots spread the scoring around with Chris Fleming, Louis Birdsong, Folarin Campbell, John Vaughan, Will Thomas and Vlad Moldoveanu all scoring. Moldoveanu's basket and free throw with 3:31 to go put Mason ahead 30-22.

Villanova, though, responded with a 16-4 run to take a lead into the half, the first time all season the Patriots have failed to lead at the break. Malcolm Grant hit a pair of 3-pointers and Corey Fisher and Shane Clark added 3-pointers as well to key the run. At the break, the Wildcats had a 38-34 lead.

At the half, Villanova was shooting 50 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from behind the arc. The teams were even in rebounding and Mason had a slight edge at the free throw line, going 5 of 7 to the Wildcats' 2 of 4.

In the second half, Villanova came out strong to start taking a 10-point lead by outscoring Mason 7-1 to start the stanza. But Mason close to within five behind a Campbell 3-pointer, a Birdsong tip-in and another Campbell jumper. Mason had three straight possessions with a chance to trim into the lead further, but the Patriots turned the ball over each time and Scottie Reynolds finally made them pay with a drive to make it 49-42.

But Mason finally found a spark from Long. The freshman made the Wildcats pay on a backdoor alley-oop and followed that up with a steal and slam at to make it 49-46. After a Casiem Drummond drive to make it 51-46, Campbell, hit a 3-pointer from the corner to cut the lead to two. The Wildcats responded by going on a 7-2 run to once again take control. Smith's 3-pointer, his fourth of the game, made it 58-54. Long had a chance to cut it to two with a one-and-one, but he missed the front end and Reynolds hit a basket in the lane and followed that with a 3-pointer to once again make it a nine-point game.

The Patriots were unable to mount a significant rally over the final eight minutes as Mason drew to within five in the final minute but Villanova held on to hand Mason its first loss of the year.

Mason will next take the court on Sunday when the Patriots face South Carolina at 4:30 p.m. in a battle for third-place in the tournament.