Nov. 22, 2008

Box Score

Greenville, N.C. - The George Mason men's basketball team used a late run to take over a back-and-forth affair and the Patriots took a road win at East Carolina, beating the Pirates, 77-71 to improve to 3-1 on the season. Mason turned the ball over just eight times and grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to help offset a strong shooting day from East Carolina.

With fellow freshmen Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison already have scored in double figures in their brief career, it was time for Andre Cornelius to join them. The first-year point guard made five 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 19 points in 23 minutes. Louis Birdsong also scored 19 points while Cam Long had 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Dre Smith also scored in double figures for the Patriots with 12 while Darryl Monroe had nine points and nine rebounds and John Vaughan had eight points and three steals. Sam Hinnant led East Carolina with 27 points.

Mason shot 44.4 percent from the field but made 11 of 24 from 3-point range. East Carolina converted 45.3 percent of its shots and was 10 of 24 from 3-point range and 13 of 16 from the free throw line. The extra Mason possessions via second-chance shots and ECU turnovers proved critical.

East Carolina led 64-63 with five minutes to play when Mason used an 8-2 run to take control of the contest. John Vaughan's 3-pointer with 3:13 to play capped the run and gave Mason the cushion it needed. Vaughan made a pair of free throws with 14 seconds to play to ice the game.

The offense clicked on nearly every cylinder in the first half on Saturday afternoon. The Patriots had been just 2 of 17 from 3-point range in their previous outing but in the opening 20 minutes, the Patriots managed to put 8 of 13 in from behind the arc. Cornelius set a career-high in the half with 11 points on three 3-pointers while Long had eight and Smith had six. Birdsong provided an inside presence, scoring nine points. Once again, though, Mason sent the opposition to the line too many times.

East Carolina was just 11 of 26 from the field and 5 of 12 from 3-point range but they were 12 of 13 from the free throw line in the half while Mason was just 2 of 3. Hinnant had 18 at the break while going 5 of 5 from the free throw line and 3 of 6 on 3-point attempts. He also sent drew two fouls on Vaughan, sending Mason's second-leading scorer to the bench for all but seven minutes in the half.

The Patriots return to the court on Tuesday when they host Mount St. Mary's at Patriot Center at 7 p.m. in a game to be televised on MASN and broadcast on WTNT 570.