Jan. 23, 2010

VIDEO highlights and post-game comments/Box Score

Towson, Md. - The George Mason men's basketball team outscored Towson 15-5 in the final 3:45 as the Patriots rallied from their only deficit to beat the Tigers and remain in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association, beating Towson, 80-71. It was Mason's third straight road win and fifth-straight win over all. The Patriots are now 16-0 against Towson since the Tigers joined the CAA.

All five starters scored in double figures for the Patriots (13-7, 8-1) as Isaiah Tate scored a career-high 13, all in the second half, and Mike Morrison had his third career double-double, with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Ryan Pearson added 12, Andre Cornelius had 10 and Cam Long scored 21, his third straight game scoring at least 20 points. Towson (4-15, 1-8) got 23 points from Jarrel Smith and 15 points and 13 rebounds from Calvin Lee but the shot just 35.8 percent in the game.

Long scored the game's first five points, setting the tone early as the Patriots led the entire first half. After going up 10-3, Mason whether the first of two scoring droughts. The Tigers cut the lead to 10-8 but Mason scored four straight to once again take control. Later in the frame, with Mason ahead 20-13, the Patriots went more than five minutes without a field goal, missing 10 straight shots, but the Tigers could get no closer than four. The Patriots led 35-29 at the break.

The Tigers came out with more energy to start the second half as the Patriots saw their lead trimmed to a deuce on three different occasions. With the score 48-46 with 12 minutes to play, Mason went on a 14-7 run with 3-pointers from Long and Cornelius and baskets inside from Morrison, Louis Birdsong and Pearson twice. That allowed the Patriots to take their largest lead of the game to that point, 62-53. But Towson answered with a 13-3 run to take its first lead of the contest, 66-65.

Towson led for 30 seconds before Cam Long hit back-to-back 3-pointers and after a pair of Calvin Lee free throws, Tate had a leaping one-handed offensive rebound and tip-in followed by a 3-pointer to make it 76-68 with 1:09 to go. Mason iced the game with free throws from Tate and Cornelius. The Patriots have scored 80 or more in each of their past three games after reaching that mark just once in their first 17 games.

The Patriots will return to action on Wednesday when they host Delaware at Patriot Center at 7 p.m. That game will be broadcast on WTNT 570 AM.