Nov. 20, 2009

Box Score

San Juan, Puerto Rico - The George Mason men's basketball team held an early lead, fell behind big, and rallied down the stretch before coming up short against 19th-ranked Georgia Tech on Friday, losing to a ranked opponent for the second straight day. Mason fell to Georgia Tech, 70-62, in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in San Juan.

Kevin Foster led Mason with 15 points and nine rebounds. Andre Cornelius had 11 points and Luke Hancock had eight points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Mason shot just 35.8 percent from the field while Georgia Tech shot 46.9 percent. Mason was outrebounded by 10 and sent Georgia Tech to the free throw line 37 times.

Mason once again started a contest against a ranked team quick and with high energy. The Patriots jumped ahead 17-9 behind two Andre Cornelius 3-pointers, a pair of Luke Hancock baskets. But after Cornelius made his second 3-pointer with 9:53 to go, things started to fall apart for Mason. The Patriots missed 12 straight attempts to end the half as Georgia Tech put together an 18-2 run to turn an eight-point deficit into an eight-point halftime lead.

With it a seven-point game just two minutes into the second half, Georgia Tech scored six unanswered points in 17 seconds to make it a 13-point Mason deficit. From there it just grew until the Ramblin Wreck led by as many as 21 points.

But there was no quit in Mason. Down 57-36, the Patriots made a 24-9 run to pull to within six in the final minute. Kevin Foster, Cam Long and Sherrod Wright were instrumental in the run that saw the Patriots force Georgia Tech to make foul shots. Despite shooting less than 60 percent from the line in the game, Georgia Tech made five in the final 32 seconds to seal the win. The Yellow Jackets did not score from the field over the final 8:48.

Mason will take the court at 10:30 a.m. EST on Sunday against the loser of Friday's game between Indiana and Boston University.