Jan. 15, 2010
The George Mason men's basketball team will take to the road on Saturday afternoon looking to remain in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association as the Patriots travel to James Madison to take on the Dukes at 2 p.m. in a game televised on Comcast SportsNet and broadcast on WTNT 570 AM.
The Patriots are 5-1 in the CAA and 10-7 overall. They share first in the standings with Northeastern, Old Dominion and William & Mary. The Dukes are 8-8 on the year and 2-4 in the CAA. James Madison is 5-1 at home on the season with the loss coming to Georgia State, 49-44. The Patriots beat Georgia State on Wednesday, 52-49. Mason is 1-4 on the road this season, beating UNCW 57-52 in early December. Mason has played twice on the road since then and they lost each game by at least 25 points.
Despite those two road set backs Mason has won four of its past five games and six of its past eight after starting the season 4-5. Ryan Pearson has turned it on during that stretch and the sophomore forward is averaging 14.5 points and 7.4 rebounds in the past eight contests. He currently leads the Patriots in scoring and rebounding and is second in steals. Cam Long is second on the team in scoring and leads the squad in assists and steals. Andre Cornelius leads the CAA in 3-point field-goal shooting having connected on 47.2 percent of his shots from long range. He is averaging 7.9 points per game.
The Dukes have lost four of their past six games and six of their past 10. Their lone win since beating Delaware on Jan. 4 was a 69-66 home win over Towson in which the Dukes hit a 3-pointer with less than three seconds to play to win the game.
The Dukes' leading scorer and rebounder this year is Denzel Bowles, who transferred from Texas A&M and has only played in eight contests. He is averaging 23.4 points and 10.3 assists per game. In the eight games in which he's played, JMU is averaging 74.1 points. When Bowles has not been in the lineup, the Dukes have averaged just 59.6 points per game. The James Madison defense has also changed. Whereas without Bowles they were holding teams to 64.3 points per game, they are now allowing 71.9 points per game.
Bowles has scored 20 or more in six of his games including 37 against Gardner-Webb. He also has five double-doubles. Julius Wells is second on the team in scoring and rebounding with 17.0 points and 5.8 rebounds. More than half his shots have come from 3-point range and he leads the CAA in 3-pointers made and is eighth in 3-point shooting percentage.
The Patriots have won 11 of the past 12 meetings between the two teams and 20 of the past 25 contests. Despite the strong play over the past decade, Mason still trails in the all-time series, 49-37.
