WASHINGTON – The George Mason University men's basketball team (21-5, 9-4) did not possess its usual second half prowess during a 72-53 setback to George Washington (15-11, 6-7) on Friday night inside the Smith Center.
The Patriots had outscored their foe in 21 of 25 games entering the game, but the Revolutionaries proved to be too much during a 52 percent shooting stanza in the second.
Despite the loss, George Mason remains two games up in the race for an Atlantic 10 Championship double bye.
"This was not a good week for George Mason Basketball," head coach
Tony Skinn (06) said. "It's unfortunate, but this is league play. I thought we did a pretty decent job in the first half, but they came out with the intensity level and toughness in the second half that we didn't match. This is the same team that's won a lot of games this season and we just have to stick together down the stretch and regroup against Dayton at home."
Masai Troutman led the Patriots with an A-10 season-high 15 points (5-8 FG) to go with five rebounds and two assists, while Jaharl Long added 13 points and dished out four assists.
The Green & Gold made nine 3-pointers on the night, but could not slow down the Revolutionaries on the inside, where the home team held a +12 (34-22) advantage in points in the paint.
GW held a +17 (40-23) scoring edge in the second stanza.
The Revs made 10 of their first 16 shots and jumped out to a 24-16 advantage. The Patriots roared back with an 8-0 run to tie it up at 24-24. George Mason took a 30-29 lead with 33 seconds to play in the stanza, but GW converted a late 3-point play to take a 32-30 advantage into the half.
With the score tied at 33-33 early in the second half, GW used a 10-0 run to go up 43-33. The Patriots cut it to seven (47-40) with 12:51 to play, but that's as close as GMU would get for the remainder of the game.
Next up, George Mason returns home for a Wednesday night contest vs. Dayton. Tip-off between the Patriots and Flyers is set for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network.
