RICHMOND, Va. -
Shaking off a hot-shooting Georgia
State team and a sluggish start in the first half, the George Mason men's
basketball team overcame an 11-point deficit with a 42-9 scoring run, as the
top-seeded Patriots downed the No. 9-seed Panthers, 68-45, on Saturday
afternoon. The victory in the quarterfinals sends Mason to the next round, a
noon matchup Sunday against fourth-seeded VCU.
Mason (26-5) notched its 16th
-straight
win, tops in the nation, as it limited GSU (12-19) to 5-of-23 second-half
shooting (21.7 percent) and earned its largest margin of victory in CAA
tournament play since a 62-36 semifinal win over James Madison ten years ago.
Senior Cam Long led the effort with 15 points, one of three Patriots in double
figures. Eric Buckner had 10 points to lead the Panthers.
The Panthers connected on four
of their first five field goal attempts and led 9-8 five minutes into the game.
The hot shooting continued as the Panthers built a 16-13 lead eight minutes
into the game, and grew that into an 11-0 run which pushed the gap to 23-13. The
Panthers would go on to lead by as many as 11 points at 27-16 before a 12-0
Mason run swung the advantage back to
Mason, 28-27, with 1:32 left to go in the first half. It extended to 14
straight before GSU ended the run with a long Marques Johnson jumper. Sophomore Luke Hancock
followed with a free throw to set the halftime margin at 31-29 in favor of the
Green and Gold.
Junior Andre Cornelius led the way with
his nine points, all coming from beyond the arc, as the Patriots were out-shot
from the field by a 60-to-41.7 percent margin. The Panthers also controlled the
boards with a 16-to-10 advantage, the fewest first-half rebounds by Mason this
season.
Leading 36-34 with just over
three minutes expired in the second half, the Patriots embarked on a 22-2 run
to send the margin into double digits for good, and the Panthers got no closer
than 17 from there on.
Live coverage of Sunday's
semifinal game is available on television via The Comcast Network, Cox Sports
74 in the Fairfax area, and ESPN3.com online. The game can also be followed
live through CAASports.com and on the CAA Championship smartphone app.
