Dec. 21, 2007

Box Score

Miami, Fla. - A year ago, Dre Smith announced his presence on the George Mason men's basketball team with a 20-point outing in a win over Florida International. On Friday night, Smith topped that, scoring 21 and leading five Patriots in double figures in a 86-68 win at FIU. For Smith, it was just his second time reaching 20 points since that game last November. The other came in last year's CAA Tournament in a win over James Madison.

Will Thomas had 20 points, Louis Birdsong had 14 points and nine rebounds, John Vaughan had 13 points, five rebounds and five assists and Folarin Campbell added 10 with five rebounds and four assists. The Patriots were playing without Jordan Carter who missed the contest with an ankle injury. Russell Hicks had 21 points while Chris Fuller had 14 for FIU (3-7).

The Patriots (8-3) started fast, jumping out to a 9-0 lead and taking a 14-4 edge into the first official timeout. At that point, Mason had made all four of its shots from the field, 5 of 6 from the free throw line and forced two FIU turnovers while holding the Golden Panthers to 2 of 8 shooting.

But despite falling behind by as many as 11 on two separate occasions, FIU refused to allow a repeat of last year's 26-point defeat. A 6-0 run trimmed the Mason lead to five and later, the Golden Panthers were able to pull to within three, 32-29. But Mason closed out the half with a 7-2 run to take an eight-point halftime lead.

On the first possession of the second half, Campbell found Smith for a 3-pointer that started Mason on a 10-2 run to open the half and take control of the contest. The assist moved Campbell past Tremaine Price into seventh-place on the school's all-time career assists list. Campbell finished the game with 309, just three behind Mike Price who is in sixth place.

The Patriots built a 17-point lead over the first eight and half a minutes of the second half, going up 63-46. But FIU responded with a 14-7 run to make it a 10-point game with less than 10 minutes to go. But Thomas passed out of the double team to a cutting Birdsong and the resulting dunk ignited a 10-2 run that put the game away.

Mason will break for more than a week before retaking the court on Dec. 30 when the Patriots host Liberty at 5:30 p.m. Earlier that day, the women's basketball team will host Winthrop with a 1:30 p.m. tip time.