March 4, 2007

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Richmond, Va. - For the second straight day, the George Mason men's basketball team took a 15-point lead into the half, but instead of watching it shrink away, as they did on Saturday, the Patriots maintained at least a double-digit lead for the entire second half and held off second-seeded Old Dominion in the CAA Tournament semifinals. The sixth-seeded Patriots advance to Monday's title game by virtue of a 79-63 win over the Monarchs, who had a 12-game winning streak snapped.

Mason was able to build the lead to as many as 22 in the second half and never let the Monarchs build a head of steam, getting critical baskets to stem every Old Dominion run. The Patriots will now try to become the first team to win four straight games in the CAA Tournament as they take on Virginia Commonwealth in the championship game at 7 p.m. on ESPN. A limited number of tickets are available for the game and fans are strongly encouraged to purchase them in advance via Ticketmaster.com.

Dre Smith led all scorers with 19 points while Folarin Campbell added 18, Will Thomas had 12 and Darryl Monroe had 10. Mason shot 58.3 percent from the field for the game while holding Old Dominion to 35.4 percent shooting. Drew Williamson paced the Monarchs with 16 while Valdas Vasylius had 13 and Brian Henderson had 10.

Following the same pattern from its first two tournament games, the Patriots came out with some excellent shooting. Smith and Campbell opened the contest with back-to-back 3-pointers and Smith scored on a pullup jumper to make it 8-0. Mason went inside for its next two scores as Monroe had a pair of baskets in the paint, then Smith hit a pullup for a 14-4 lead. Williamson countered with a bank shot in traffic but John Vaughan scored on a drive and Campbell hit a fall-away for a 12-point lead. Marsharee Neely scored for Old Dominion on a pullup jumper but Smith responded with a 3-pointer to make it 21-8 and force the Monarchs to call a timeout.

That's when Old Dominion started its run. Neely drained a 3-pointer, and after Smith scored on a drive, Williamson scored on an offensive putback and a jumper to make it 23-15. Coming out of an official timeout, the Monarchs shifted to a 1-3-1 zone and Mason made them pay with a Thomas dunk and a Monroe layup. A Jordan Carter fastbreak layup off a Smith assist gave the Patriots their largest lead to that point, 29-15.

Henderson, fresh off a 24-point outing for Old Dominion on Saturday, scored his first basket with 5:16 to go. After Louis Birdsong scored of an offensive rebound, Smith drove the length of the court for a 33-17 Mason lead. Vasylius, a first-team All-CAA selection, had a pair of free throws but Carter responded with a pair. Vasylius then hit one more free throw to make it 35-20 at the half.

Smith, who entering the CAA Tournament had scored more than 11 points in a game just four times had his third-straight first half of at least 11 points. On Friday he had 14 before the break, on Saturday he had 11 and on Sunday he had 14. At the break, Mason had a 21-11 rebounding edge, had held Old Dominion to 1 of 11 on 3-point attempts and was shooting 57.7 percent from the field to the Monarchs' 27.6 percent. Birdsong had seven rebounds in just seven minutes of action.

The Patriots opened the second half with an 8-1 run with Henderson hitting 1 of 2 free throws while Mason went inside, getting buckets in the paint from Monroe and Campbell, then back-to-back baskets from Thomas. The first of his second-half field goals gave him an even 1,000 points for his career, making him the 27th Patriot to reach that plateau.

Will Thomas was 5 for 5 from the field and had his 1,000th point against Old Dominion in the CAA Tournament semifinals on Sunday.

The Patriots couldn't celebrate, however, as Old Dominion began a 17-9 run that pulled them to within 14 at 52-38. Williamson had six points and Gerald Lee had six points to lead the Monarchs. After a Will Thomas basket inside, Williamson countered with yet another basket in traffic. Old Dominion got the lead down to 12, 61-49, when Vasylius scored in the post with 4:38 to play, but Mason got a basket inside from Campbell, who then converted a foul shot to put it back to 15. That basket gave Campbell 1,000 points for his career, joining Thomas as the 28th Patriot to record the milestone.

From there, Mason was able to seal the win with free throws, making 11 of 12 in the final three minutes.

With the win, the Patriots advance to the CAA Championship Game for the first time since 2004. That year, Jai Lewis missed a turnaround jumper at the buzzer that would have given the Patriots the CAA title. Instead, Virginia Commonwealth earned the championship. The game on Monday will give Gabe Norwood the opportunity to break Lewis' school record for career games played. Lewis played in 125 games, a mark Norwood tied on Sunday.