Box Score (PDF)

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The George Mason University men's basketball team is advancing in the Atlantic 10 Championship for the fourth-straight season after capturing a 77-70 victory over Saint Joseph's on Wednesday afternoon at the Barclays Center.
 
Against the Hawks, Mason (17-15) dominated the glass (+19, 47-28) and shot 56.5 percent (26-46) from inside the arc while maintaining the lead for the final 35 minutes of the contest.
 
The Patriots now move on to Thursday's second round, where 12^th-seeded Mason will take on No. 5 St. Bonaventure at 2:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network.
 
"We hit shots and rebounding sparked us, which is what we needed," head coach Dave Paulsen said. "That's a dangerous team – [Ryan] Daly is a tough cover. They really spread you out. It wasn't always pretty, but we did a good job of attacking from the inside out and getting AJ and Jordan the ball. We really limited our turnovers too, which is a big key for us."
 
 Redshirt-junior AJ Wilson led Mason with a career-best 24 points, shot 10-of-16 from the floor (2-3 3pt FG) and grabbed nine rebounds in a fantastic 36 minutes of work.
 
Sophomore Jordan Miller added 19 points while consistently punishing the soft spot in Saint Joseph's matchup zone with precision mid-range jumpers. Miller made 8-of-11 of his 2-point attempts and ripped down seven rebounds in 38 minutes.
 
Junior Javon Greene chipped in 14 points, tallied nine rebounds and made an important 7-of-8 free throw attempts late in the game. Elsewhere, junior Goanar Mar tied a season high with four field goals made while registering eight points and six rebounds in 26 minutes on the floor.
 
The teams played to an early 9-9 tie, before Mason built a 19-13 edge at the 8:20 mark of the opening half. A Wilson jumper kept Mason ahead by five at 25-20. After SJU cut it to 25-23, Wilson scored seven of Mason's final nine points of the half to help the Patriots take a 38-27 edge into the break. In all, the Green & Gold closed the period on a 13-4 run.
 
The Patriots held a staggering +18 (26-8) edge on the glass in the opening stanza.
 
Mason extended its edge to 13 (42-29) on a lay-in from Javon Greene at 18:24, but a trio of 3-pointers from SJU's Toliver Freeman helped the Hawks cut the edge to just five (45-40) at 15:27. The Hawks were within one at 47-46, but two big jumpers from Mar and a 3-pointer from Wilson helped Mason push the lead back to 10 (58-48) with 8:23 to go.
 
Mason extended its run to 15-4 on a dunk from Wilson that gave the Green & Gold a 64-50 edge with 3:33 left, but poor free throw shooting from the Patriots allowed SJU to pull within one possession (69-66) with 42 seconds left.
 
But Mason finished the game 8-for-8 from the line – including a perfect 6-for-6 from Greene – to ice the game and send the Patriots into second round action Thursday.