FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason men's basketball team dropped an 84-67 decision to visiting Dayton on Wednesday night in the Patriot Center.
Sherrod Wright led the Patriots with 18 points, followed by Bryon Allen with 16 and Corey Edwards with 10. The Patriots won the rebounding battle, 30-28, led by Erik Copes with nine boards. Mason shot 40.0 percent from the field and finished 25-of-36 from the free throw line.
Jordan Sibert led Dayton with 19 points as the Flyers shot a 54.9 percent clip from the floor, including a 65.2 percent second half effort, and were 22-of-30 from the charity stripe. UD converted 15 Mason turnovers into 26 points and outscored the Patriots in the paint, 38-22.
Mason kept it close for the majority of the first half as the teams worked through six tied scores and three lead changes in the early going. Trailing by four at the 12:23 mark, Wright cut it to one draining a trey to jumpstart a 6-2 run to tie the game for the final time at 19-19 with 10:10 left in the first. Sibert snapped the run with a three-pointer as Dayton began to pull away and led at the break, 40-25.
Dayton opened the second half with an 11-5 spurt to lead 51-30 at the first media timeout at 15:56. The Flyers would lead by as many as 27 points in the second half as the Patriots closed the game with a 10-5 run over the final four minutes for the final 84-67 score.
With his 18 points tonight, Wright now stands tied for 15th in the all-time record book with Cam Long with 1,416 career points.
Mason now stands at 7-15 on the season and 0-8 in Atlantic 10 play. Dayton improved to 15-8, 3-5.
Mason returns to action at Duquesne on Saturday, February 8. Tip is slated for 2 p.m.
