Dec. 22, 2008
Box Score
The George Mason men's basketball team won the 600th game in school history on Monday night and they couldn't have done it without a stellar performance from one of the newest Patriots. Ryan Pearson had his first career double-double scoring 12 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in 28 minutes of action. John Vaughan had 16 points and eight rebounds while Darryl Monroe added 13 points as the Patriots improved to 5-0 at home on the year behind a 60-52 win over Tulane.
The Patriots (8-2) won on a night in which they shot poorly. Defense, rebounding and free throw shooting carried the day. The Green Wave (5-5) was held to 36.1 percent shooting, Mason had a 43-37 edge on the boards and the Patriots were 23 of 31 from the free throw line. Tulane committed 23 fouls while Mason was whistled for just 11. Kendall Timmons had 18 points to lead the Green Wave.
It was a tight first half and neither team could string together a run until the final six minutes. With the score tied 19-19, Mason closed the half with a 10-2 run to take a 29-21 lead into the break. As with most of Mason's runs of late, this one started with Cam Long. The sophomore made a pair of free throws and followed with a jumper for a 23-19 advantage. Vaughan added a fastbreak layup with 2:43 to go to make it 25-19. After Tulane's Kendall Timmons sank a jumper in the lane, Monroe and Andre Cornelius added baskets for the Patriots to close out the half.
Neither team shot exceptionally well in the first half but the difference at the break turned out to be points off turnovers. The Patriots had eight while Tulane had none. Vaughan led Mason at the half with eight points and five rebounds while Timmons had 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting while the rest of the Green Wave were 3 of 20.
The second half saw Mason go ahead 36-24 before Tulane rallied with an 18-6 run to tie the game at 42-42 on Eric Vianney's 3-pointer with 8:02 to play. But the Patriots never let Tulane take back the lead as Monroe hit a pair of free throws and Pearson scored inside to make it a two-possession game. Mason was able to push the lead back to eight and the Green Wave were unable to rally. The Patriots were held without a field goal for nearly the entire final 6:24 but the Patriots made 9 of 12 from the line in that span while holding Tulane to two baskets.
The Patriots will take a break for the holidays and they will return to action on Dec. 30 when they play at Dayton at 7 p.m. That game will be televised on MASN and broadcast on WTNT 570.
