WASHINGTON – The second-seeded George Mason University men's basketball team will play for its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 14 years Sunday after racing past No. 6 Saint Joseph's, 74-64, in A-10 Semifinal Saturday at Capital One Arena.
 
George Mason (26-7) raced out to a 14-0 lead and never gave up the league in a wire-to-wire win to send the Green & Gold to their first conference title game since 2009.
 
The Patriots will now face top-seeded VCU on Sunday at 1 p.m. for the A-10 Championship title and a berth in the Big Dance.
 
In Saturday's semifinal, the team's patented Patriot Pressure defense turned up a notch against the Hawks, holding SJU to just 33.3 percent (22-66) from the floor and 22.2 percent (8-36) from 3pt range.
 
Senior Jalen Haynes led the Green & Gold with 22 points (9-15) to go along with seven rebounds and a career-best six assists. He's averaging 23.0 points/game over the two A-10 Championship contests.
 
Senior Darius Maddox added 19 points (7-12 FG, 3-6 3pt), while senior K.D. Johnson notched 12 points and three assists in 25 minutes.
 
Senior Woody Newton played one of his best all-around games as a Patriot after tallying 11 points (4-6 FG) to go along with seven rebounds, five blocks and two assists. The five blocks tied a career best for the District Heights, Md., product.
 
George Mason shot 51 percent (26-51) in the game and went 9-of-17 (.529) from 3pt range.
 
The Patriots held the Hawks without a point over the first 5:10 of action while jumping out to a 14-0 advantage. SJU used a 7-0 run to move back within 12 (25-13), but GMU pushed it back to 15 (32-17) on a Haynes lay-in with 5:44 to play in the half. A 6-0 spurt from the Hawks moved Saint Joseph's back within seven (35-28), but a fastbreak lay-in to beat the buzzer by Maddox gave the Patriots a 37- 28 lead at the break.
 
Saint Joseph's opened the second half on a 7-0 spurt to move within two at 37-35. The Hawks cut it to one at 42-41, but seven-straight from the Green & Gold pushed George Mason back up seven (49-42) at the 13:41 mark.
 
The Hawks cut it to four at 53-49, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Newton and K.D. Johnson fueled an 12-2 run that pushed the Patriot lead back to 14 (65-51) with 4:34 to go.
 
A 7-0 Hawks run got Saint Joseph's back within five (67-62) with 1:06 left, but that's as close as SJU would get as the Patriots scored seven of the final nine points of the game.
 
George Mason and VCU will battle it out for the A-10 tournament crown on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Capital One Arena. The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS.