Jan. 6, 2009

The George Mason men's basketball team will take on Towson on Wednesday night as the Patriots look to remain in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association. Mason is one of two teams, along with Northeastern, with a 3-0 record in CAA play and Towson is one of a sizeable group at 2-1. The game, which will be played at Towson, tips at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on WTNT 570.

The Patriots have never lost to Towson in CAA action with a 12-0 mark. Mason leads the all-time series, 24-8. Towson's last win over the Patriots was on January 6, 1993, a 78-71 win in Towson.

Mason enters the contest on a two-game winning streak and as winners of eight of their past 10 games. The Patriots are 10-3 on the year and they are among the top four teams in the CAA in scoring offense and scoring defense as well as rebounding margin. Cam Long and John Vaughan are each averaging better-than 11 points per game while Darryl Monroe is averaging 9.9 points and his 8.5 rebounds are second-best in the conference.

Towson is 7-8 on the season and 4-2 at home. The Tigers had an exciting weekend as they got off to their first 2-1 start in CAA play while taking back-to-back one-point wins, the first time in school history they've done such a feat. The Tigers will be looking for just their fourth three-game winning streak in the past eight years.

Junior Hairston leads Towson in scoring and rebounding with 14.5 points and 6.7 boards. Three other players are scoring 9.8 points or better, but the Towson defense is allowing the opposition to score nearly 71 points per game while shooting better than 43 percent from the field.