Two members of George Mason's basketball teams were instrumental in leading their teams to successful opening months, and for their efforts Ryan Pearson and Taleia Moton have been named Mason's Student-Athletes of the Months for November.

Pearson, a 6'6" forward from Far Rockaway, N.Y., guided the men's basketball team to a 5-2 record in November as he led the team in scoring and rebounding while ranking second in steals and fourth in assists. Averaging 20.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, Pearson's scoring total placed him 14^th nationally among Division I players and third among Colonial Athletic Association players. He also ranks in the top 10 in rebounds, field goal percentage, steals and defensive rebounding among conference players.

The team's top returning scorer entering the season, Pearson posted double-doubles in each of the first three games of the season, making him the first person to do since G.C. Marcaccini 16 seasons ago and the first Patriot with three straight double-doubles since Darryl Monroe in 2009.

During the month of November, Moton averaged 21.6 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.4 steals per game to pace the women's basketball team to a 4-1 record out of the gate. Moton drained a career-high 30 points at Longwood on November 17 to mark the first time since 2004 a player scored 30+ points. The redshirt-senior repeated the 30-point performance against UNC Asheville 10 days later to lead Mason to an 88-59 victory over the Bulldogs.

The Fort Washington, Md., native earned CAA Women's Basketball Co-Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 28 after averaging 24.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 steals and 4.0 assists while helping the Patriots to a 2-0 week. Moton has scored in double figures in each of Mason's five games to open the season.

Pearson and Moton are the third set of honorees this year, afte women's soccer's Tiana Kallenberger and men's diver Derrick Butts (October) along with women's volleyball's Kelsey Bohman and men's soccer's Taylor Morgan (September).