Jan. 24, 2009

Box Score

Richmond, Va. - The George Mason men's basketball team played without senior leader John Vaughan on Saturday in a contest for first place in the Colonial Athletic Association and the Patriots certainly missed their best perimeter defender and second-leading scorer. In particular, Vaughan's presence was notably missing against VCU's press, as he is the team's primary inbounder. Without his offense and ball handling, Mason found itself on the short end of a 76-71 decision in Richmond in front of a crowd of 7,594. The Patriots trailed by 15 in the second half but pulled to within one in the final five minutes before VCU closed the game out.

Cam Long had a career-high 24 points, the most by a Mason player this year. Dre Smith added 16, Ryan Pearson had 12 and Darryl Monroe scored 10. Eric Maynor led the Rams with 28 points and his six assists gave him the VCU school record in that department. Larry Sanders had 15. Mason had 14 turnovers and 19 fouls in the game, both above average.

It looked as if VCU might run away with things early as they opened the game with an 10-3 run behind five points each from Larry Sanders and Kiril Pishchalnikov. Mason countered with a 18-4 run with Ryan Pearson scoring eight, Dre Smith adding five and Cam Long, Isaiah Tate and Darryl Monroe all contributing as well. With 7:43 to go in the half, Mason held a 21-14 lead.

The Rams turned to their press and it got them an 8-0 run as they hit six free throws and Maynor sank a runner in the lane. The lead went back and forth then until VCU closed the half with a 6-0 run to make it a 39-32 Mason deficit at the break. It is tied for the most points Mason has allowed in a half all season.

The second half saw VCU open with a 16-8 run that put the Rams ahead 55-40. Mason answered by chipping away, first pulling to within seven, then after falling back behind by 11, pulling back to within three. During one stretch, Long had 11 straight points for Mason until Smith's steal and layup made it 65-62. Minutes later, Monroe scored in the lane to make it a one-point game.

The Rams answered the call as first Maynor, then as Brandon Burgess hit 3-pointers to make it 71-64. After a Long layup, the Maynor hit a basket in the lane and his free throw pushed it to a 74-66 lead.

For the first time all season, the Patriots have lost back-to-back games. It's also the first time this year that the Patriots are not in first place in the CAA. The Rams are the first team to get to 70 points against Mason since Nov. 22 when the Patriots beat East Carolina, 77-71. Cam Long had a streak of 18 straight free throws snapped. The streak began on Jan. 7 at Towson.

The Patriots return to action on Tuesday when they host Delaware at Patriot Center at 7 p.m. That game will be televised on The Comcast Network, Comcast SportsSouth and Cox Channel 74 and broadcast on ESPN 980.