Feb. 28, 2009

Box Score

Fairfax, Va. - The George Mason men's basketball team completed the school's first unbeaten regular season at Patriot Center and at the same time, clinched the second seed in next weekend's Colonial Athletic Association Tournament as Mason beat Towson, 71-59 in front of a sold-out crowd of 9,840.

The Patriots (20-9, 13-5) are 14-0 at home and they ran their current home wining streak to 16 games, one shy of the school's Division I record. They did so with strong defense and good shot selection, hallmarks of head coach Jim Larranaga's teams. With the win, Mason improved to 20-9 on the year, just the second time in school history Mason has won 20 games in back-to-back seasons. The victory, coupled with Northeastern's loss earlier in the day, left Mason in sole possession of second place in the CAA. The Patriots will open Tournament play on Saturday at 6 p.m. when they take on the winner of Friday's contest between seventh-seeded James Madison and tenth-seeded William & Mary.

On Senior Night, Mason's four departing players, John Vaughan, Dre Smith, Darryl Monroe and Chris Fleming combined to score 37 points and grab 21 rebounds. Monroe had 13 points and nine rebounds, Smith had 13 points, Vaughan had nine points and eight rebounds and Fleming had two points and three rebounds. Cam Long added 11 while Louis Birdsong had 10. Junior Hairston had 19 points and 12 rebounds while Josh Thornton scored 10 for the Tigers (10-21, 5-13).

Mason jumped out to a quick start with Vaughan's 3-pointer giving the Patriots an 11-4 lead with 12:49 to go. Towson responded with a 21-9 run to go up by five with 6:31 to play. That deficit seemed to wake up the Patriots as they closed the first half with a 15-4 run to go ahead 35-29 at the break.

Less than 15 seconds into the second half, Mason pushed the lead to double figures on Dre Smith's 3-pointer. The lead stayed between seven and 10 for most of the second half with the Patriots looking for the knock-out punch but never finding it. On the other end, Towson would put together a couple of baskets but never cut into the lead substantially.

Vaughan is among the school's all-time leaders in points, rebounds and 3-pointers, Monroe is currently third all-time at Mason in field-goal percentage, Smith is one of the top 3-point shooters in school history and in Fleming's four years at Mason, the Patriots have won more games than any other four-year span in school history.