Feb. 27, 2009
The George Mason men's basketball team will attempt to accomplish something it's never done before when it takes on Towson on Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Patriot Center. Mason, which will be celebrating Senior Night, will attempt to put together its first undefeated season at Patriot Center. Mason is 13-0 at home this year. Saturday's game will be televised on MASN and broadcast on WTNT 570.
The Patriots have five one-loss seasons at Patriot Center in school history but they have never gone unbeaten. A win over the Tigers would make history, as would a loss. The Patriots have not lost to the Tigers since they entered the CAA and Mason has won the past 13 meetings. Also playing a big role in Saturday's game is the fight for seeding in the CAA Tournament which begins next week.
Mason is currently tied for second and has the third seed, but could move up to the second seed or fall down to the fourth seed. Either way Mason has already clinched a first-round bye. A win would also give Mason back-to-back 20-win seasons for just the second time in school history. Mason won 20 games in three straight season, 1987-88 through 1989-90
Mason (19-9, 12-5) has had two tense CAA games its past two times out. Last Wednesday, against Drexel, the Patriots held on for a 49-48 win, the second time this year Mason has beaten Drexel by one point. For the Patriots, it was just the second time they have scored fewer than 50 points under head coach Jim Larranaga and still won. The other was Mason's 35-33 win over UNC Wilmington in the 2001 CAA Championship Game.
Most recently, the Patriots snapped a six-game road losing streak, the longest such losing streak since the 1996-97 season. They broke it with a John Vaughan reverse layup with four seconds to play giving Mason a 53-52 win over UNCW. It was just the second win at Wilmington in the past 12 years.
Mason is in the top 40 in the nation in both scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense while standing in the top 25 in fewest turnovers and personal fouls per game. The Patriots are second in the CAA in scoring defense and third in field-goal percentage defense. Mason has also been very efficient on the offensive end, standing second in the CAA in field-goal percentage.
Towson (10-20, 5-12) has not been as strong as Mason defensively. The Tigers are 11th in the CAA in both scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense and on the offensive end, they are 10th in field-goal percentage. The Tigers have been led by Junior Hairston's 12.7 points and 7.3 rebounds. He is fourth in the CAA in rebounding. Josh Thornton is averaging 11.2 points and Jerrel Smith is averaging 10.4 points and 4.9 rebounds. Troy Franklin is averaging 4.4 assists, sixth in the CAA.
Cam Long leads Mason in scoring and assists and is second in rebounding, steals and three-point shooting. He is fifth in the CAA in field-goal percentage, top 10 in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio and top 20 in scoring and rebounding. Vaughan is third in the CAA in 3-point field-goal percentage while Darryl Monroe leads the CAA in field-goal percentage and is second in rebounding.
The two teams met earlier this season at Towson and Mason took a 71-59 win. The Patriots shot 48 percent form the field while holding Towson to less than 39 percent shooting. The Patriots also turned the ball over just nine times while forcing 17 Towson turnovers. The Tigers kept the game close by outrebounding Mason, including 17 offensive boards, and by getting to the free throw line and going 15 of 22 from the charity stripe. Monroe had 16 points and 10 rebounds while Long and Dre Smith had 13 and 11, respectively. Thornton had 14 points while Franklin had 10. Hairston had seven points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
