FAIRFAX, Va. - The
George Mason men's basketball team used four double-figure scoring performances
along with staunch defense to take a 71-47 victory over Drexel Wednesday night
at the Patriot Center. The win improves the Patriots' Colonial Athletic
Association record to 5-2 (13-5 overall), while the Dragons fell to 11-6, 3-4
in CAA play.
Sophomore Luke Hancock led
the quartet with 16 points and fell one rebound short of a double-double,
leading a Mason effort which won the battle of the boards by a 40-to-31 margin.
In a game marked by 51 combined team fouls, Hancock was nearly perfect from the
line as he connected on a career-high 11 of 12 free throw attempts. Senior Cam
Long contributed 14 points while juniors Ryan Pearson and Andre Cornelius
chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Chris Fouch was Drexel's lone
double-figure scorer, as the CAA's second-leading scorer was limited to just 11
points. On the game, 15 of the Dragons' 17 field goals came from the paint, as
they were limited to just one 3-point field goal.
A combined 1-for-11 start
from the field by both teams left the score tied at two more than five minutes
into the game, but five straight points off the hand of Hancock made it 7-2. Drexel
cut it to three before an 8-0 run pushed the Mason lead to double digits at
17-6 more than halfway through the opening period.
The Dragons answered with
back-to-back buckets and moved within seven, but another Patriots response made
the gap as large as 12. Drexel fought back to whittle the lead down to four at
25-21, but a counter by the Patriots saw five of the next six points go to the
Green and Gold. The Dragons would get as
close as four late in the half at 32-28 before the Patriots expanded their lead
to 37-30 at the half.
Mason was led by 11 points
from Hancock, including a 6-for-6 performance in the first half at the line.
Samme Givens' nine points paced the Dragons, who scored all 12 of their
first-half field goals in the paint.
A 12-4 run out of the locker
room made it 49-34 with over six minutes expired, Mason's largest lead of the
game to that point. It would grow as large as 24 at 71-47, the final margin.
The Patriots will look to
make it four-straight victories on Saturday morning, traveling to rival James
Madison for an 11 a.m. tip from Harrisonburg, televised live on ESPNU.
