Five years ago today, in a game at James Madison, George Mason junior guard Dre Smith set the NCAA record for most made three-point field goals in a game without a miss, making all 10 of his attempts and smashing the old record of 9-for-9. (The NCAA record for made treys in a game is 15, and many have exceeded 10 makes, but no one else has done it without a miss).
Smith's perfect performance, on January 19, 2008, has always held a special place in my college basketball memories, as it was the first road game I ever attended as a George Mason student. There was a large amount of smack talk on Facebook and various message boards (particularly revolving around JMU's "Rock the Convo" slogan for the game) and a significant crowd of Mason fans made the two hour trip southwest to the Convocation Center in Harrisonburg, Va. The smack continued upon our arrival, as many of the Mason students were seated just a few rows from the court, with only a corner separating us from one half of the Madison student section.
Immediately, almost everything went wrong for the Dukes, who fell behind 16-2 less than 4 minutes into the game. The near-capacity crowd was stunned. But JMU responded, hanging tight for the rest of the half, with only a late Patriots push extending the lead beyond 10 to 48-34 at the intermission. Dre Smith's halftime line consisted of 2 made three-pointers and 8 points total, barely gaining attention in what had been a furious half of scoring.
However, the second half was another story. Smith unloaded on three-point baskets at the 17:39, 17:01, and 15:13 marks as the visitors exploded to a 63-46 lead. The Dukes responded with a furious rally of their own, cutting the lead to 73-66 even as Smith bombed them twice more (9:56 and 8:50), at one point doing the only scoring for Mason over a 6-plus minute stretch.
Smith's eighth trey of the night, at the 6:02 mark, was the final straw, sparking a 10-0 run from which the Dukes never recovered. The hometown fans headed for the exits in droves, abandoning the building to a vocal, mocking chorus of "Rock The Convo," as chanted by myself and the other ecstatic Mason students.
Smith lined up another trey at 4:23 to tie the record, then broke it at the 1:30 mark. The final score was 96-75, led by Smith's 34 points. The Convo had definitely been rocked, although not in the way the hosts had intended. It wasn't just Smith who had a hot night, as the Patriots shot almost 66% as a
team (for an astounding 1.50 points per possession), with John Vaughan scoring 20 points while Will Thomas and
Folarin Campbell each added 16.
Some of us, myself included, were unaware of the history we had just witnessed until after the game. (Was it 7? 8? We'd lost track). The whispers started as we were filing out of the gym, as the word spread. No, we weren't crazy, he really hadn't missed a trey all night. Better yet, it was an NCAA record, someone asserted. The word spread. It wasn't 8. It wasn't even 9. He'd hit 10!
The next season, 2008-09, the NCAA moved the three-point line back one foot to it's current 20-foot, 9-inch specification. So can we call that the Dre Smith Rule? Not really, since the change was first announced in 2007, but if there were any remaining questions about whether the collegiate three-pointer needed a rule change, Smith erased them. And now, with the difficulty increased, it's a record that could last for a long, long time.
Traditionally, James Madison is George Mason's biggest rival in the CAA. However, with JMU routinely failing to be competitive for most of the last decade, and Mason having won 17 of the last 18 meetings in the series prior to last Tuesday night, there had been a sense, at least among younger Patriots fans, that VCU was becoming our true rival.
This burning passion was fueled by incidents like the Rams' repeated elimination of Mason from the CAA tournament (including Eric Maynor's incredible one-man comeback to beat Mason in the 2007 CAA championship), and Sherrod Wright's buzzer-beating three-pointer in a regular season match-up last year. But now that VCU has left the CAA for the Atlantic 10 (or 14, or 16), I believe we have to say JMU is once again Mason's primary rival.
The CAA schedule makers must not have seen things the same way, as they placed the Madison at Mason game on a weeknight for the first time in a decade, and compounded that by scheduling it on a Tuesday night in January, before the students had returned from break.
The first half was almost hard to watch. Erik Copes scored a quick two on the Patriots first possession, but then both teams got off to ugly starts from the field. A pair of Enoch Hood free throws gave the Dukes their first lead, 10-9, at the under-12 media time out.
Fouls and turnovers continued to be a theme, with more scoring done via the free throws than via field goals. Sherrod Wright, George Mason's undisputed leader, found no space to work in the JMU defense, failing in his increasingly creative attempts to drive to the basket, but drawing numerous fouls. Wright would finish the game only 5 of 13 from the field, but he made 12 of 16 free throws.
Freshman Ron Curry finally provided a spark for the visitors, hitting three three-pointers in a three-minute span to give the Dukes a 29-22 lead with 4:27 remaining in the half. Taylor Bessick made it 31-22, and George Mason called time out. From there, the Patriots were able to contain the Dukes for the rest of the half, holding them to 1 for 4 from the floor, while cutting the deficit to 33-28, highlighted by a Corey Edwards steal and an emphatic Anali Okoloji dunk. Wright blocked Curry's three-point try at the buzzer.
Mason was not playing well, and despite the late spurt, it really felt like the Dukes could win. But with the deficit down to five, George Mason began to steadily chip away as the second half began. Complicating matters, starting center Copes, generally seen as the key to Mason's post defense, picked up his third foul less than a minute into the half.
The second half started slowly too, as the two teams largely traded baskets, before a Johnny Williams layup reduced the Dukes team to 41-38 at the 13:59 mark. Enoch Hood countered to make it 43-38, but then the Patriots began to push the pace and press full court, with Bryon Allen at point guard. Allen scored a layup when JMU failed to get back quickly enough on defense after Hood's basket. Then, Williams blocked a shot, and Paris Bennett passed ahead to Wright, to a cutting Allen, for a three-point play to tie the game.
Hood got open in the lane for a dunk, but again the Dukes didn't get back fast enough, and Allen found Wright for a wide open three-pointer, to finally give Mason the lead, 46-45, with 10 minutes to play. Goins made one of two free throws, and, after a Patriots miss, converted a layup, but freshman Marko Gujanicic answered for the Patriots, hitting a three-pointer on another nice pass from Allen.
Goins got the lead back for JMU one more time at 7:47, but then the Patriots went on a 9-0 run, fueled by their full court pressure and some very poor Dukes shot selection. Gujanicic hit a second three-pointer from almost the same spot, and Vertrail Vaughns and Bryon Allen each scored again on the fast break. Rather suddenly it was 59-50 with under 5 minutes to play, and the Dukes never recovered.
A Rayshawn Goins layup made it 62-57, but the Dukes could get no closer, as the Patriots made 6 of 8 free throws to close out the win, 68-57. Gujanicic finished with his first career double-double, scoring 10 points and collecting 10 rebounds. Wright led all scorers with 23 points, while Goins led the Dukes with 13 and Curry added 11.
After shooting 5 of 10 on three-pointers in the first half, often wide open, the Dukes were held to 0 for 8 in the second half, as the Patriots seemed to adjust to what has been a season-long struggle to defend the arc. Meanwhile, the Patriots were 3 for 9 in the second half, after a miserable 1 for 5 in the first half, with all 3 coming in a short span. The flurry of late three-pointers seemed to open the lane up for Bryon Allen and others to drive to the basket.
Last Saturday afternoon I made the drive three hours south to Williamsburg, Va. with some friends for the George Mason game at the College of William and Mary. (I'd hoped to recap this game a little sooner, but I've tried to make it up by providing some photos this time).
The Tribe have had one of the better seasons in what has been an ugly
non-conference showing for the CAA overall. They played a relatively
weak non-conference schedule, but they beat pretty much all the teams
they were supposed to beat. However, when faced with tougher
competition, an unfortunate pattern has repeated itself. At Wake Forest,
the Tribe blew a late lead and lost by six. At Richmond, they fell in double overtime. At Purdue, they again fell apart down the stretch and lost by seven. Double-digit losses to Miami of Ohio and Vanderbilt ended more poorly, but both times the Tribe was in the game at least until the second half. As a result, William and Mary were still very much an unknown going into the Mason game.
This was my first visit to Kaplan Arena, an 8,600-seat gym that the Tribe unfortunately rarely fills. On the whole, it was a pleasant experience. The seating bowl and sight lines are underrated. One inconsistency I noted was that the concession stands and restrooms seemed small for so large a venue, but they were sufficient for the 3,506 on hand. The College’s students were still away on winter break, which meant there weren’t many students on hand, and also, apparently meant there was no pep band, and only a token number of
cheerleaders.
A friend of mine was able to score us tickets right behind the George
Mason bench, which provided a rare glimpse into just how much
communications happens during the game, and who the most vocal coaches
and players are. I was surprised by how constantly some of Mason’s bench players were yelling to their teammates on the court -- for
example, warning them about an open shooter on their blind side.
For once, George Mason got off to a hot start, hitting their first three shots for a 7-0 lead and forcing a quick William and Mary timeout. A Sherrod Wright fast break dunk made it 11-2 before the Tribe found their offense, fueled by back-to-back three pointers from guards Brandon Britt and Marcus Thornton. The two teams traded baskets for the next few minutes, leaving the score at 18-11 Patriots at the 13 minute mark.
From there, the home team began to tighten the game, as junior forward Tim Rusthoven asserted his presence in the paint for back to back buckets, and the visitors turned it over twice, then committed some cheap fouls. Tribe leading scorer Marcus Thornton cut the lead to 18-17 with a pair of free throws, before a Wright layup made it 20-17 at the 9:55 mark.
Mason's offense got back on track as Patrick Holloway picked off a pass under the basket, and lead the break back the other way, spinning around two defenders before passing ahead to Edwards in the corner. Edwards quickly passed back to a driving Johnny Williams for the dunk. The Patriots hit the three-pointers and turned offensive boards into baskets, stretching their lead to 31-23 at the under-4 media timeout.
Out of the timeout, a Thornton three-point play ended the 13-4 Patriots run, and ignited the crowd. Energized, the Tribe forced Mason into several bad shots in a row. More frustrating, especially for Hewitt, were several iffy calls by the officials. First, Wright appeared to be hit in the head and fouled hard on a layup, yet was called for a charge. Second, a Mason put back was waived off for supposed offensive basket interference, even though to my eye (and apparently Hewitt's) the ball hit the rim and deflected away from the rim before it was touched. Third, a Vertrail Vaughns three-pointer was waived off because of a three-second call in the paint (the only one of the game despite plenty of standing around by both teams).
All parties, not just the Mason faithful, became frustrated when the shot clock was inadvertently reset on an emphatic Erik Copes blocked shot, and the referees needed nearly five minutes to find the real shot clock time via video review. Hewitt spent most of the stoppage complaining about the previous calls, especially the interference play and Wright's blow to the head, and continued the conversation at halftime, before heading to the locker room.
Mason was fortunate that the half was almost over, because nothing broke their way over the last few minutes of the first half. The crowd was loud and in to the action, the Tribe were hot, and Mason couldn't get a stop or make a shot themselves, failing to score a field goal for the last 4:38 of the first half. The Patriots managed only a pair of Wright free throws and went to the locker room down 37-33.
During the first half, Mason coach Paul Hewitt began to experiment
with a new lineup, placing both point guards (the starter Corey Edwards
and his backup Bryon Allen) on the floor at the same time. This is a
move that some Mason fans have speculated about for weeks, and it seemed
to pay off, as Edwards acted at the distributor on offense, while Allen
was able to focus on defense and his ability to run the floor and drive
to the basket.
The second half began with the two teams slowly trading baskets for the first six minutes or so, but then Mason began to go on a run, as Wright scored two quick baskets and assisted on a third, giving the Patriots their first lead of the half on a steal and layup. William and Mary quickly called time out with 12:20 to play, trailing 45-43.The Tribe missed two three-point attempts on the ensuing possession, before Bryon Allen made a free throw for Mason, and Brandon Britt hit a layup to cut the Tribe deficit to one.
Edwards pushed the ball quickly up the floor after the made basket, finding freshman sharpshooter Patrick Holloway all alone in the left corner, and Holloway hit on a lightning quick three-pointer before the Tribe defense could get back. Mason had the momentum now, and Jonathan Arledge hit a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 51-45 Patriots with 10:38 to play.
But the Tribe, and especially Tim Rusthoven, weren't done. Rusthoven found ways to get deep in the paint against the Mason frontcourt, and scored two layups and knocked down an and-one free throw to help cut the deficit to 53-51. Wright, who already had 18 points for the Patriots, countered with a layup, but then made a very bad decision, picking up a dead ball technical foul for taunting.
Marcus Thornton (19 points) made both technical free throws, and then a layup, trying the game at 55-all, and Brandon Britt added one of two from the line to pull the home team back ahead, 56-55. Now was the danger point for the Patriots. Yet again, the momentum was slipping away from them. But Wright stepped up, seemingly fueled by his frustration with his own mistake. The junior scored 10 points in a six minute stretch to finish with a career high 28, and Johnny Williams (9 points) added a huge three-point play.
The Tribe were forced to trade free throws for layups, and the Patriots made 7 of 11 at the line down the stretch. Four straight empty possessions for William and Mary (7-6, 1-1 CAA) provided an insurmountable 68-61 deficit, and Mason held off the Tribe for a 73-66 win. Yet again, the Tribe held a late lead (58-57 with 5:21 to play) before folding down the stretch, giving up a 16-8 closing run to the visitors.
Despite the loss, I was impressed by what I saw from the College. It's hard to believe that Tim Rusthoven (19 points and 11 rebounds) is still only a junior in what feels like his sixth season in the CAA. The 6'9" forward has learned how to use his size and proper positioning down low. Just about every time he was able to post up and get deep enough into the paint, he scored, often drawing a foul as well from Mason's frustrated big men. The legend of "Beasthoven" will continue to grow if he repeats his performance on Saturday.
Three players did all the scoring for the Tribe -- Rusthoven and Thorton with 19 and Britt with 18, but they got little help from their teammates. Fellow starters Matt Rum and Kyle Galliard finished a combined 3-11 from the field, and the bench contributed exactly 2 additional points. The big three put up some very nice numbers, but they're going to need some help from their teammates if William and Mary want to capitalize on a weakened CAA.
As for the visiting Patriots (8-6, 1-1 CAA), each game for the last month or so has brought continued development from Corey Edwards as the starting point guard. Saturday, Edwards (10 points, 5 assists, 1 turnover) was able to keep himself out of foul trouble and play 33 minutes. This development allowed Bryon Allen to slide over and play shooting guard, where he seemed much more comfortable.
Another positive for Mason (besides the obvious -- Wright's continued dominance) was that they didn't let their mistakes snowball this time. Lapses on offense or defense didn't last long enough for the Tribe to pull away. To be fair, the home team had some opportunities, but they didn't have the unbelievable luck that Northeasten had in shooting 64% in the second half against Mason earlier in the week.
The first game of the inaugural (Virginia) Governor’s Holiday Hoops Classic doubleheader this past Saturday in Richmond, Va., provided a finish that more than validated Governor Bob McDonnell’s vision in creating what will hopefully be an annual four-school, all-Commonwealth event.
With 5.8 seconds left, George Mason and Richmond found themselves knotted at 64-all. The Patriots retained possession after a Spiders foul, and guard Sherrod Wright inbounded to point guard Corey Edwards, who drove the right side of the lane, then suddenly spun and passed out to Wright.
The redshirt junior has become known for hitting big shots, and he rose and fired, absorbing a collision with his defender, to swish a three-pointer as the horn sounded. With the soft smack of leather against nylon, a long streak of futility at the Richmond Coliseum ended for the Patriots.
***
By way of introduction, I'm a George Mason student and diehard Patriots basketball fan. I'll be writing about George Mason and the CAA here for the rest of the season. This is the holiday-delayed first installment of what I hope will be a regular contribution. Thanks, Gary!
***
The city of Richmond, and especially its Coliseum, has not been kind to the team from Fairfax. Mason has won many games in the Coliseum against other out-of-town guests, but when faced with a hometown squad, they always seemed to lose. The CAA tournament has been held at the Richmond Coliseum every season since 1990, with Richmond participating up until 2000, and VCU participating from 1996 until last March. In that entire time, Mason never won a single game against either school in conference tournament play.
Even in their best years, playing the Coliseum has been a struggle. The two best teams in Patriots history, the 2006 Final Four team and the 2011 Round of 32 team, both earned at-large NCAA bids after crushing conference tournament losses (to Hofstra, and to VCU, respectively).
The Patriots had fared slightly better at the Coliseum in the regular season, most recently defeating VCU in February 1999. However, with the Spiders departing for the A-10 after the 2001 season (not to face Mason again until this past Saturday) and with the Rams relocating to the Siegel Center for 2000-01, the futility streak expanded to regular season play.
After a decade of painful losses, Mason finally broke through at the Siegel Center in February 2011, with a 71-51 shellacking of the Rams on national television (improbably, this loss awakened a sleeping giant, and Shaka Smart's squad went to the Final Four barely a month later).
But the Coliseum streak continued, right through the 2012 CAA tournament. Mason went home early from Richmond last March, falling to VCU on a supposedly neutral court for the fourth year in a row and the sixth time in the last nine tournaments. With VCU departing in the offseason for the A-10, and the CAA tournament shifting to Baltimore after one final hurrah this coming March, that could have been the end of the story. However, one last opportunity presented itself, with the establishment of the Governor’s Classic. The Patriots were chosen to face Richmond (for the first time since 2001!) in the early game, with Old Dominion versus Virginia to follow.
The pregame scouting reports should have been fairly simple. Richmond came in having taken 32 three-point attempts earlier in the week against Kansas, and shooting 38% from long range for the season. The Patriots, meanwhile, entered having consistently been ranked as one of the top teams in the country at defending two point field goals, yet one of the worst at defending against the three.
Richmond took full advantage, hitting two treys in the first minute and sinking eight of their first ten attempts from beyond the arc. Darien Brothers was especially hot, beginning the game five-for-five. In fact, with all their hot shooting from the outside, the Spiders did not score a two-point basket until over 15 minutes into the game.
On the Patriots side, leading scorer Sherrod Wright (Mason’s only double figure scorer at over 16 per game) kept Mason in the game early. The junior accounted for 11 of Mason’s first 21 points, including a sequence in which he made a layup, stole the inbound pass right under the basket, and dunked to tie the score at 11.
Offense was in style early, and after about 9 minutes of trading baskets, the game was tied at 21. Each team began to make defensive adjustments, and Mason’s offense bogged down as Wright faced additional pressure, while Richmond was forced to start to look inside for points. Sloppy play and turnovers on both sides slowed the pace, with Richmond pulling away late to lead 41-32 at the half.
With the final seconds ticking down for Mason, in a foreshadowing of coming events, Sherrod Wright forced up a long three-pointer, which missed everything, and may have been tipped. It dropped into the arms of freshman Patriot Marko Gujanicic, who alertly laid it up, albeit milliseconds too late to count.
The second half was defined by three major runs. First, Mason came out with a renewed focus to defend the three, especially against leading scorers Darien Brothers and Derrick Williams. Defensive intensity and some timely hot shooting fueled an 11-3 Mason run to cut the deficit to 44-43 with 16 minutes to play.
Momentum shifted as Mason’s offensive ground to a stop again, victimized by turnovers and poor shooting, while the Mason defense fouled Richmond five times in about a minute and a half. The run was finally stopped by a Patrick Holloway jumper and a Corey Edwards uncontested layup, but not before an 12-2 run had given the Spiders a 12 point lead with 7:31 to play.
It seemed likely that Mason had expended all their energy in closing the initial gap at the start of the half, and that the game was now slipping away. Instead, Richmond opened the door, as over the next few minutes Edwards drew a charge, then Trey Davis missed a pair of free throws, then Richmond committed four turnovers against Mason’s full court pressure and missed two rushed three-point attempts.
Mason took what they were given, as Wright’s three-pointer made it a seven point game, then Edwards and Anali Okoloji scored in transition cut the deficit to three. Back-to-back turnovers by Wright slowed the comeback, however Richmond got only a single Darien Brothers (20 points) made free throw from the miscues. With two minutes to play, the Spiders still clung to a four point advantage, 62-58.
The sophomore Edwards, who has emerged as Mason’s new starting point guard in recent weeks (an ever-revolving position for the Patriots, dating back to the beginning of last season), came up with a big steal for the Patriots. The ball found it’s way into the hands of the sweet-shooting Holloway, who promptly knocked down a trey, cutting the Richmond lead to one, 62-61, with 1:53 to play.
Spiders forward Alonzo Nelson-Ododa promptly turned the ball over again, and Jonathan Arledge stuck back Edwards' miss for the Patriots first lead of the game, 63-62. Spiders coach Chris Mooney called timeout, but he was powerless to stop his team’s collapse, as Greg Robbins lost control of the ball on a drive to the basket seconds later.
Robbins fouled Edwards in the act of shooting, and the point guard converted one of two free throws for a 64-62 Mason lead with 54 seconds to play. Richmond walked the ball up the court, running as much clock as they could. Derrick Williams (14 points) missed a three-pointer, but teammate Cedrick Lindsay was there to put it back and tie the score with 19.8 seconds to play.
Mason had been in these tight end game situations many times already this season, with mixed results (a blown five point lead to New Mexico in the final 12 seconds looms especially large), and inconsistency in such situations surely played a role in the demotion of former starting point guard Bryon Allen. This time, the Patriots could not be denied. The Spiders had a foul to give, and they used it with 5.8 seconds to go. Paul Hewitt used Mason’s final time out, and from there, Edwards (career-high 13 points) ran the designed play to perfection.
Mason’s defensive pressure, compounded by unforced Spiders miscues, allowed the Patriots to close the game on an 18-3 run and win the contest at the buzzer, as Wright (22 points) replicated his walk off heroics from last February’s win over VCU. If there had been any question previously, it was now crystal clear: Sherrod Wright is The Man for Mason.
For me personally, and for a lot of Patriots fans, a burden was also lifted that afternoon. A regular season win, even such an important and exciting one, can't undo all those years of conference tournament heartache. Only cutting down the nets this March, on what should finally be a truly neutral court, can begin to do that. But we don't have to dread the Coliseum anymore.
The George Mason-VCU semifinal was the fifty sixth Division I game I had covered live this season. It perhaps might be the most memorable one from start to finish. I can probably say beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one expected the first nine minutes of the game. But given the first nine minutes of the game, I can also say that likely no one expected the last thirty one minutes of the game either.
After Drexel had soundly defeated ODU in the warmup act, the headliner was a matchup between two CAA rivals with a long rivalry. The Rams had knocked the Patriots out of the CAA Tournament the last two years. Last year was the most memorable as VCU upset George Mason, the regular season champion, in the semifinals. It's quite likely that win helped the Rams make the First Four. We all know what happened from there.
Now with a sold out crowd made up mostly of VCU fans, but with a large contingent of Mason fans as well, there was this third act. The Richmond Coliseum was loud. And to add the cherry on top of an amazing atmosphere, the two best pep bands in the Colonial were taking turns getting their fans in a frenzy.
Mason won the tip, but immediately turned the ball over as Darius Theus stole the ball and hit a layup to put VCU up 2-0. This would become the common theme for the first nine minutes. Another steal, another layup. 4-0 Rams. Then Troy Daniels buried a three to make it 7-0. Another steal by Rob Brandenberg leads to his dunk. 9-0. Burgess with three straight three pointers, the third resulting in him shaking his head down the court. 18-0 VCU.
After Mike Morrison turned the ball over again, which was George Mason's seventh turnover in not even six minutes, Daniels buried another three pointer. Six minutes gone by, Rams up 21-0. Timeout, Patriots.
The VCU fans in attendance that had been loud already, were now at the point of reaching all time record decibal levels of noise. It was deafening. Those of us that were sitting on press row, we were stunned. VCU hit all five of their three point attempts. Mason couldn't even get the ball down the court.
After the timeout, Brandenberg hit one of two free throws to put the Rams up 22-0. The Patriots finally got their first two points on free throws by Sherrod Wright. The twenty two point run had ended. But VCU wasn't quite finished yet.
A Reddic layup was followed by another three pointer by Brandenberg. Jonathan Arledge finally got Mason's first basket on a dunk. However, Treveon Graham followed with a three pointer for the Rams. Two Theus free throws made the score 32-4 with a little more than nine minutes left.
That wasn't a misprint. VCU was leading a twenty four win George Mason team 32-4 after nine minutes of action. To put that in perspective, I had seen Iona score thirty one straight points against St Peter's exactly seven days before that. As impressive as that was, this was more impressive. St Peter's was the ninth place team in the MAAC. George Mason was the third place team in the CAA and basically the same team that made it to the round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament last season.
Only one word described how I felt sitting in my seat: Surreal.
It looked quite likely that VCU was going to break Georgia State's tournament setting record from Friday night for largest margin of victory in a CAA Tournament game, thirty five points (Georgia State defeated Hofstra 85-50 in the first round of the CAA Tournament that Friday). The situation was desperate for George Mason and Patriots' coach Paul Hewitt desperately tried hockey line substitution changes to get his team into a groove. It looked like the story had been set by the first nine minutes.
But someone forgot to tell George Mason that.
The Patriots' comeback started slowly. Though they still committed a few more turnovers, Mason for the most part was able to get the ball up the court finally and hit some shots. VCU though kept pace with them for the next six minutes and the lead was still twenty six, 46-20 with five minutes left in the half.
Then the Rams went cold from beyond the arc, missing their last five three point attempts. This allowed the Patriots, led by Morrison and Arledge, to go on a 12-2 run to end the half. It was now a "respectable" sixteen point deficit at the half, 48-32.
If George Mason was going to cut the lead further, they had to cut out the turnovers. They had twelve turnovers in the first half, which led to seventeen points for VCU, which had only one turnover. Thus the points off turnovers was in favor of the Rams 17-0.
The second half started out with Mason and VCU basically holding serve. After six minutes, the Rams' lead was fifteen, 55-40. The Patriots had not helped themselves, committing three more turnovers in that span.
But Hewitt made a change that ultimately helped Mason. He had Andre Cornelius now lead the point, which brought them needed quickness against VCU. Cornelius and Morrison combined to score all of Mason's points during their 12-4 run which cut the VCU deficit into half, 59-52 with about seven a half minutes left. The George Mason fans roared in approval.
The Patriots' cut the lead a little further. After Morrison, who was dominant the last twenty five minutes of the game, hit two free throws, the Rams were now only ahead 64-58 with three minutes left. What had been a twenty eight point lead had whittled down to six. A lot of credit was due to the Patriots' second half defense, which held the Rams to twenty six percent shooting in the second half.
Mason had a chance to cut the lead further, but they missed four consecutive shots over two possessions. They couldn't cut the lead any further. VCU scored eight of their last ten points on free throws. The Rams would hold onto a 74-64 win.
Big Shot Burgess led VCU with twenty points, whild Daniels added seventeen. They combined to shoot nine of seventeen from beyond the arc. Brandenberg added fourteen points while Juvonte Reddic scored twelve points. Morrison and Arledge each had doubles for George Mason. Morrison had twenty points and eleven rebounds while Arledge had ten points and eleve rebounds. Cornelius added fifteen points.
After watching two terrific games in front of a raucous, sold out crowd over eleven thousand people, I was convinced that there would be a great championship game with what I thought was two definite NCAA tournament teams. I wasn't able to stay for the championship game, because I had to get back to New York. But I got to see it the next night. It lived up to the billing.
