Mason men's basketball comes from behind to win 63-60 in home opener

Sherrod Wright ended the game in double-figures at 13 (photo by John Irwin).

The Mason men’s basketball team ended the game on an 11-3 run to win their season home opener, 63-60 against American University on Friday night at the Patriot Center.

The Patriots trailed the Eagles, 57-52 with 4:15 left to play when a pair of free throws from Jalen Jenkins began an 11-0 Mason run. A three-point play by Bryon Allen with 3:32 remaining cut the deficit to one when he drew hard contact to make the layup. Strong Mason defense forced a turnover by American and Sherrod Wright got the steal and lifted the score to 58-57 in Mason’s favor.

A pair of jumpers from Wright and Allen gave Mason a five point lead in the last 25 seconds. A free throw shot by Wright and a 3-pt buzzer shot by American brought the final score to 63-60. Three Mason players ended in double-figures with Bryon Allen at 20, Marko Gujanicic at 13 and Wright at 13. Mason outscored American 22-7 off the bench.

“Obviously Bryon competed his tail off tonight but we got to get some of these guys to come along with him,” head coach Paul Hewitt said.

Mason came out flat offensively, allowing the Eagles to open a 12-2 run in the first four minutes of play. The Patriots knew they were struggling to score and a point of emphasis for the team in the preseason has been to build the offense one reversal at a time.

“In the first eight minutes we had two ball reversals and at the next media timeout we had six,” Hewitt said. “That’s when we made the run to get back in the game.”

The momentum slowly started to change for the Patriots offensively when Gujanicic entered the court and brought the score to nine, but American continued to run away with the game and was up by 13 at the 11:34 mark.

Hewitt continued to switch up his lineup, subbing in and out players to take the pressure off Allen. Patrick Holloway came in and provided a spark that ignited the offense on a huge steal with 11:27 left in the first half. Following the steal, Holloway made a weave around pass to Allen, who drove to the basket and passed to Vaughn Gray to hit a three-pointer bringing the score to 23-14.  

“The fans tonight were great,” Gujanicic said. “When we started catching up, especially in that pressure that we had, they were like having six players on the team. It just encouraged us more and more.”

The Patriots kept building their momentum. A two-point bucket from Johnny Williams and a mid air basket catch by Allen on a Holloway shooting attempt brought the team within four and sent Allen to the line for a foul shot. The Patriots were able to narrow their margin to three after a perfectly placed three-pointer by Gujanicic and two-point shot by Wright.

“I’m glad cause I hit that three because it motivated me more to keep going,” Gujanicic said.

Mason finally pulled ahead when Jenkins grabbed a fallen shot that drew a held ball call that went out of bounds in Patriots favor. With the ball back in Mason’s possession, a rebound from Jenkins and a foul that sent Wright to the line gave the Patriots a 38-37 lead heading into the locker room at the half and the confidence they needed to come back out in the second half to win the game.

“We didn’t play a great game but a win is a win at this point in the season,” Gujanicic said.

Mason travels to Texas for an away game matchup against Lamar on Tuesday, Nov. 12 and returns home to host Northern Iowa on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. at the Patriot Center. 

Video by Khafre Barcliffe