Box Score (PDF)
FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason University men's basketball team held Rhode Island to just 37.5 percent shooting in the second half en route to a 75-67 victory on Saturday afternoon inside EagleBank Arena.
That defensive effort fueled Mason's 12
th home victory of the season. After a difficult offensive week in Mason's previous two games, the Patriots shot a much-improved 52 percent Saturday and made 8-of-20 (.400) 3pt attempts.
"I think we have a resilient group," head coach
Kim English said. "We've taken whatever's been thrown at us this season and have continued to improve and get better. We've learned from our flaws. We took our worst loss in two seasons the other night in Pittsburgh. I thought our guys responded really well against a team [Rhode Island] that's had some success."
Senior
Josh Oduro paced the Patriots with a season-high 27 points on an extremely efficient 12-of-14 shooting day. The Gainesville, Va., product added six rebounds in 32 minutes. In the process, he passed John Vaughan (2004-09) and Nate Langley (1994-97) and moved into 23
rd place on the all-time Mason scoring list.
Junior
Ronald Polite III just missed a double-double with 15 points and a game-high nine assists, while senior
Davonte Gaines also tallied 15 points (6-8 FG) and grabbed nine rebounds in 37 minutes.
Graduate guard
DeVon Cooper rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 points (3-5 FG) and grabbed four rebounds.
Mason held a +7 (32-25) edge on the glass and was +12 (34-22) in points in the paint.
Rhode Island led 24-14 at the 9:18 mark of the first half, but the Patriots responded with a 9-0 run to cut the edge to one (24-23). Mason moved in front by five at 34-29 and took a 36-33 advantage into the break.
An 11-3 run early in the second half pushed Mason in front by 11 (53-42) and the Patriots extended the edge to 13 (64-51) on a Polite III 3-point play with 10:03 left. Rhode Island moved back within four (66-62) with 3:40 left, but that's as close as the Rams could get, as Mason hit some big shots and got stops down the stretch.
Next up, George Mason renews the Revolutionary Rivalry with George Washington on Wednesday night in Foggy Bottom. The 7 p.m. contest will be broadcast on NBC Sports Washington and ESPN+.
