Men's hoops sneaks by Bucknell, 61-57 [VIDEO]

The Patriots improved to 5-2 on the season with their home victory over Bucknell Wednesday night. Ryan Pearson led the way with 16 points (Jake McLernon).

In spite of a sluggish offensive performance, the Patriots (5-2) kept their perfect home record alive as they escaped against the Bucknell Bison (5-3), 61-57, in a back-and-forth contest Wednesday night in the Patriot Center.

Sophomore point guard Bryon Allen capped off the game with a wide open basket under the hoop off of a nifty feed from Mike Morrison, stretching the lead to 59-56 with under a minute to go.

“I thought we made a real nice step tonight with the development of our team,” head coach Paul Hewitt said. “That was a good team we beat tonight.”

The score was tied on eight different occasions throughout the contest and there were six lead changes, nearly all coming in the second half.

Despite being double-teamed every time he touched the ball, senior forward Ryan Pearson led the way for the Patriots yet again scoring 16 points, 13 of which came in the second half. He has now scored at least 16 points in every game this season.

Outside of Pearson, the squad struggled to find any rhythm in the half-court offensive sets. Not only were guys struggling to get open, but they were also missing shots when left alone. They shot just 40 percent from the floor as a team, and were just 2-of-12 from three-point range. The only two players to knock down threes were unlikely candidates, forwards Pearson and Jonathan Arledge.

“Offensively we got to get better,” Hewitt said. “I still think we are missing some shots that are makeable, but we’ll work that out.”

Allen returned to the starting lineup in the point guard slot due to a concussion suffered by freshman Corey Edwards in practice Monday. Allen responded with a big game, scoring 12 points, grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out five assists and getting three steals.

“I wanted to step up and be a leader,” Allen said, “so until Corey [Edwards] gets back and DJ [Cornelius] gets back, I’m looking at this as a big opportunity for me.”

Sherrod Wright also scored in double figures for the Patriots with 14, although he is still fighting a hand injury suffered earlier in the season.

“It’s still swollen and still not 100 percent, nowhere near,” Wright said, “but I go out there and play any way I can to help the team.”

The defensive intensity proved to be the difference as the Patriots held the Bison to just 57 points, and held their sharp-shooter Bryson Johnson to no points on 0-6 shooting.

“To keep Johnson in particular scoreless is a great effort on a lot of guys’ parts, especially in the second half,” Hewitt said.

Mason’s own sharp-shooter, Vertrail Vaughns, had another cold night, shooting just 3-of-11 from the field and 0-of-4 from three-point land. After starting the season hot, he has lost his touch over the team’s last two games.

Cameron Ayers was the lone bright spot in the Bison attack as he managed to put up 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 from three.

“Ayres came in and played well, stepped up, hit big shots, but we weren’t as focused on him as were on number 12 [Johnson],” Wright said.

With the win, the Patriots snapped Bucknell’s five-game winning streak, and improved to 7-3 all-time against the Bison.

The night wasn’t all about basketball, however, as it was the Patriots Go Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Night in the Patriot Center, in partnership with the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. Pink ribbons were passed out to all attendees and even the cheerleaders donned pink pom-poms to support the cause.

The Patriots return to action Saturday, Dec. 3 at Towson to kick off the conference season, and the first of a three-game road stand.

“Conference play we know is going to ratch it up a little bit more,” Hewitt said, “the speed of the game, as the games become more important, gets faster and faster.”

Mason will also play at UVa Tuesday, Dec. 6 in their marquee non-conference game of the regular season.