WHO: Men's Basketball at Richmond
WHERE: Robins Center – Richmond, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 78, Richmond 74
RECORDS: Mason (8-14, 2-7 A-10), Richmond (11-10, 3-6 A-10)
KEY PLAYERS: Jaire Grayer – 20 points; Otis Livingston II – 18 points, 5 assists; Shevon Thompson – 13 points, 12 rebounds

BOX SCORE (PDF)       BOX SCORE (HTML)

RICHMOND, Va. – George Mason held off a late rally from Richmond Wednesday night to come away with a 78-74 victory in the Robins Center. The win marked Mason's first triumph at Richmond since January 2000 as four Patriots scored in double-figures led by Jaire Grayer with 20 points.

GAME NOTES
-Richmond led by one point, 30-29, at halftime using a 5-0 spurt to end the period. The conference foes played a tight battle through the first 20 minutes as the lead changed seven times and was tied on four occasions.
-Mason held its largest lead of the first half following a bucket from DeAndre Abram at 14:08 to give the Patriots a 13-7 lead. Richmond would slowly chip away at its deficit and used an 8-1 run to grab a 20-17 advantage with 7:56 to play.
-Following five unanswered points from Trey Davis to give the Spiders a three-point lead, Jalen Jenkins and Otis Livingston II responded with six unanswered points to give Mason its final lead of the period. Marquise Moore hit the front end of a pair of free throws before UR closed the half with a 5-0 run for the lead.
-UR extended its lead to four points out of the halftime break, 37-33, before the Patriots ignited for a 12-0 run over the next 2:38 that returned the permanent lead to Mason.
-Mason would open its first double-digit lead on a three-point play from Shevon Thompson at 7:15 for a 55-45 advantage. The Patriots would hold its largest lead of the contest of 12 points twice before Richmond cut the score to single digits with less than a minute to play.
-Leading by 10 points with 46.4 seconds on the clock, Richmond used an 8-2 run to come within 75-71 with 6.9 seconds to play. Livingston finished 3-for-4 from the charity stripe to squash a T.J. Cline three-pointer that pulled the game to two points.
-With the win, Mason has now taken eight of the past 11 meetings against Richmond and two straight.

STAT BREAKDOWN
-For the game, Mason shot 45.1 percent (23-51) from the field led by four Patriots in double-figures. Grayer paced Mason's offense with 20 points, marking his third 20-point performance this season. Livingston followed with 18 points to match his career-high set on Sunday.
-Livingston finished 8-of-12 from the charity stripe as Mason was 27-for-42, marking the most free throw attempts this season.
-With 12 rebounds, Shevon Thompson led Mason on the glass with the Patriots winning the rebounding battle, 47-33. Thompson finished with his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points. Marquise Moore nearly missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
-Richmond shot 38.8 percent (26-67) and 69.6 percent (16-23) from the charity stripe. Cline led the Spiders with 29 points followed by Terry Allen with 16 points for the two Spiders to reach double-figures.
-The win snapped a three-game skid for the Patriots.

NEXT ON THE COURT
-Mason returns home from the road on Saturday to host No. 24 Dayton at 6 p.m. in EagleBank Arena. The game will be broadcast on MASN.