FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason University men's basketball team (23-7, 14-3) completed a perfect A-10 home season with a 69-62 triumph over La Salle (12-18, 4-13) on Wednesday night inside EagleBank Arena.
The victory clinched a 9-0 league home slate for the Patriots and moved the team's school-record total to 17 overall home victories on the year.
With the win, the Patriots remain in second place in the league, one game back of VCU in the A-10 standings. A VCU loss Friday vs. Dayton and a George Mason win over Richmond Saturday would earn the Patriots a share of the A-10 regular season title.
George Mason's 14 conference wins are the most since 2011-12.
"At the end of the day, I can find solace that we were 9-0 at home and finished it out," head coach Tony Skinn ('06) said. "Regardless of how we played in that first half, I'm glad we got another win. Now we just have to regroup, because we're going to play some pretty good teams here in the next few days."
The Explorers shot 48.1 percent in the first half and made five triples to build a 33-26 halftime advantage. But in the second half, the Green & Gold held La Salle to just 32.1 percent (0-4 3pt) and made 58.3 percent of their shots on the other end to hold a +14 (43-29) edge in the stanza.
Junior
Brayden O'Connor led George Mason with a career-best 26 points. The Ottawa, Ontario, product put together a highly efficient shooting night (8-13 FG, 2-4 3pt, 8-8 FT) to go with a game-high five assists in 35 minutes of work. It marked his first 20+ point night in a George Mason uniform.
Senior
Jalen Haynes added 22 points (8-11 FG, 6-6 FT) and 10 rebounds to notch his fifth double-double of the season. Haynes made 8-of-11 shots from the floor and a perfect 6-of-6 attempts at the line.
Senior
Darius Maddox added 17 points (3-7 3pt), three assists, three steals and tied a career best with two blocks in 37 minutes.
GMU held a sizable 36-22 edge in points in the paint and was +6 (17-11) in points off turnovers for the contest.
Next up, George Mason concludes the regular season with a Saturday contest at Richmond. Tip-off between the Patriots and Spiders is set for 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
