Pariots Win at Home Again after Punishing the Pride

By Broadside Correspondent Ryan Dempsey

With the George Mason University men’s basketball team losing three of their last four games and senior guard John Vaughan back in the lineup after missing the last three games, the pressure was on for the Patriots to remain in the top three in the CAA.

Last Tuesday night, the Patriots (15-6, 8-3) took on the Hofstra University Pride (14-8, 6-5). The Patriots improved to 11-0 at home after defeating the Pride 78-54.

Mason started the game with senior forward Darryl Monroe, scoring a strong inside layup. Minutes later, senior guard Dre Smith was fouled from 3-point range, shooting and making all free throws, and extending Mason’s lead to six.

The Patriots continued dominant defensive pressure, forcing the Pride to miss 10 of its first 11 field goal attempts.

With a reverse fade-away shot by Monroe with 8:30 left in the first half, the Patriots went up again by 10 points and would never have their lead cut to single digits after
that.

The Patriots were fouled on five of their last seven possessions and ended the first half leading 39-21.

In the first half, freshman forward Ryan Pearson led the Patriots in scoring with nine points, and Monroe dominated shooting 80 percent.

The second half started with a steal by sophomore guard Cam Long, who then drove the ball all the way to the basket, got fouled and made the 3-point play.

Mason continued its defensive intensity and fast-break scoring extending the lead to 25 within the first four minutes of the second half.

Vaughan scored seven consecutive points before Hofstra attempted a comeback with a 7-0 run.

The Patriots quickly answered with an 8-0 run of their own, including the crowd-erupting dunk made by freshman forward Michael Morrison.

Mason continued to dominate the rest of the game by forcing the ball inside and being sent to the line. The Patriots went in the double bonus with more than eight minutes left in regulation and led by as many as 34 points.

The last five minutes of the game dwindled down as senior forward Chris Fleming and freshmen guards Jimmy Nolan and Brian Henderson were all given a chance to play.

Vaughan and Pearson led the Patriots with 16 points each, and the Patriots shot 49 percent from the field, 33 percent from 3-point range, and 77 percent at the free-throw line.

Mason held the Pride to only 28.8 percent shooting and 19 percent from 3-point range. Additionally, Mason scored 14 fast-break points, 28 points in the paint, 24 points off of free throws and 27 points off turnovers.

“Tonight we came out with the attitude that we were going to improve our defense and get back to the way we were playing before. I think we did a great job of that tonight . . . We came out defensively, and set the tone,” said Vaughan.

“This definitely helped our confidence . . . We were on the road and some of the [opponents] were making some unbelievable shots, sometimes even when we were there.

We understand that and we needed to correct one or two things. We need to get one more rebound, take one more charge, or take away one more offensive possession and that will turn the Ls into Ws. That’s all we look to in getting our confidence up.”