Jan. 23, 2008

Box Score

The George Mason men's basketball team remained unbeaten at home and won its fourth straight game as the Patriots easily dispatched of Old Dominion, beating the Monarchs, 86-53 in Colonial Athletic Association action at Patriot Center. Mason is now 9-0 at home and the Patriots have their second four-game winning streak of the year.

The Patriots used a 17-0 run midway through the first half to erase any doubt as they improved to 14-5 on the year, 6-2 in the CAA. Old Dominion fell to 9-11, 4-4. After opening the year with four straight wins, Mason went 6-5 over its next 11. But on its current four-game winning streak, the Patriots have three wins by at least 20 points.

Folarin Campbell tied a career-high with 25 points and established a new career-high with five 3-pointers. He also had six rebounds and six assists. John Vaughan had 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting and Will Thomas had 14 points and 12 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the year. Dre Smith had a career-high four assists but followed up his NCAA record-setting 10 of 10 performance from behind the arc by going just 1 of 6 from 3-point range. Every Mason player except Jordan Carter scored and the senior guard played sparingly as he works his way back into the rotation after an ankle injury.

Old Dominion came out frigid from the field while the Patriots were scorching and the game was never in doubt after the first 15 minutes. Mason made 14 of its first 25 shots while ODU opened the contest 4 of 22 from the field. The Patriots turned a 19-13 lead into a runaway thanks to a 17-0 run that put Mason up 23 points in a little more than 15 minutes. Folarin Campbell, John Vaughan and Will Thomas combined for 38 points in the first half and they opened the game shooting a combined 15 of 20.

The second half held little drama as Mason kept ODU at bay, never allowing the Monarchs to push the Mason lead to less than 20. After scoring 80 or more points just once in 2006-07, the Patriots have now topped 80 points in a game seven times. Thomas moved into 15th place on the school's all-time scoring list passing Erik Herring. Campbell moved into 17th, passing Nate Langley.

Mason will next take the court on Saturday when the Patriots play at UNC Wilmington at 7 p.m. That game will be televised on MASN.