Nov. 28, 2009

Box Score

New Orleans - The George Mason men's basketball team rallied from an eight-point deficit to tie the game at 64-64 but Tulane outscored Mason 12-7 down the stretch to beat the Patriots, 76-71 in New Orleans. The Patriots sent Tulane to the line 29 times and the Green Wave made 21 of those as they avenged a loss suffered at Patriot Center last season.

Tulane led 58-50 with a little more than six minutes to play when Mason rallied. Cam Long made two free throws, Johnny Williams and Luke Hancock scored inside and Long made two more free throws to make it 60-58. After a Tulane 3-pointer from Kevin Sims, Long drained a trey to make it 63-61. A Sims free throw made it a three-point game, but Long stepped up and made another 3-pointer to tie the score.

Tulane led 74-71 with 15.4 seconds to play, but Long missed a 3-pointer and the Green Wave made a pair of free throws to close out the win. Long tied his career high with 24 points and he also had five assists and two steals. Luke Hancock had 14 points and four rebounds while no other Mason player finished in double figures. Sims had 22 points, including 12 of 13 from the line while Asim McQueen had 16 points and Aaron Holmes had 10.

With the score tied at 23-23 in the first half, each team made runs. First Tulane got a four-point play from Kevin Sims as Hancock fouled him as he drained a 3-pointer. Then Kris Richard scored inside to make it 29-23, Green Wave. Mason came back with a 7-0 run to take the lead, then extended it to a 13-2 run before Tulane scored to close out the half and make it 36-33.

Mike Morrison's basket inside started the run, then Cornelius hit a 3-pointer, Kevin Foster scored on an assist from Pearson, then Pearson and Cornelius hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Mason was 5 of 5 from behind the arc in the first half while shooting 55.6 percent from the field.

The Patriots return to action on Wednesday when they will play locally by traveling into The District to take on George Washington at 7 p.m. That game will be televised on MASN and broadcast on WTNT 570 AM.