CHICAGO – The George Mason University men's basketball team (17-1, 5-0 A-10) earned its first ever win at Loyola Chicago Tuesday night, outlasting the Ramblers 82-74 inside Gentile Arena.
 
The win extended George Mason's best-ever overall (17-1) and A-10 starts (5-0) and improves the Green & Gold to 22-3 (.880) in their last 25 A-10 games.
 
Loyola Chicago (5-13, 1-4) impressed with a 59.4 percent shooting first half and built a 47-41 lead at the break. But the second half Patriots once again put it all together in the final 20 minutes, holding a +14 (41-27) edge in the stanza.
 
"We have to find a way to get off to better starts," head coach Tony Skinn ('06) said. "But in conference play, you're not going to check off all the boxes. The box that matters most is the ability to find a way. I thought we did that against a Loyola team that came out with the right energy. We tightened up defensively in the second half, but we need to get better."
 
Riley Allenspach led the Patriots with a game-high 23 points (7-11 FG), including a critical 11 in a row over the final five minutes to push GMU to victory.
 
Jahari Long added 17 points, while Masai Troutman notched 14 and made 4-of-5 3-point attempts. Kory Mincy rounded out the double figure scorers with 11 points, five rebounds, a team-high four assists and 0 turnovers.
 
George Mason held a 33-25 edge on the glass and turned 13 offensive rebounds into an 18-10 edge in second chance points for the game.
 
The Ramblers made 10 of their first 15 shots to jump out to a 29-26 advantage. Back-to-back triples by the Ramblers fueled an 8-0 Loyola run that built the lead to nine (40-31). The Ramblers extended the edge to 12 at 47-35, but the Patriots scored the final six points of the half to cut the lead to six (47-41) at the break.
 
Loyola Chicago went back up eight at 54-46, but an 8-2 run by George Mason moved the Patriots back within two at 56-54. George Mason took the lead at 58-57, but a 5-0 run by the Ramblers moved the home team back up four (64-60) with 9:33 to play.
 
A key Dola Adebayo 3-pointer pushed the Patriots back within one (70-69), and at that point, Allenspach took over. His 11-point blitz fueled an 11-2 Patriot run that increased the lead to eight (80-72) with just 28 seconds remaining.
 
Next up, George Mason returns home to host George Washington January 19 for the first of two matchups against the Revolutionaries this season. Tip-off on MLK Day is set for 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network.