Photo by Chris Jones / By George
A dominating shooting performance combined with a stellar defense carried George Mason to their eighth straight victory over Longwood 97-60 on Monday night.
Wild’n cuz their young @JDG_TheGreatest pic.twitter.com/bUcwVFG7hX
— By George. (@ByGeorgeGMU) December 13, 2016
At EagleBank Arena, the Patriots (9-3) shot 43.5 percent from behind the arc in the game, 46.0 percent overall. Jaire Grayer finally found his rhythm, going 3-6 from long range after struggling at 27.5 percent on the season. He was one of three Patriots to reach 17 points, along with Marquise Moore and Otis Livingston.
At the line Mason went 29 for 33, with Livingston having a perfect night 7-7 further amplifying his national standing. On the season he came into the contest fourth in the country in free throw percentage at 96.8, barring no other incredulous stat line in college basketball, he would temporarily jump to the top of the NCAA leaderboard.
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For the Lancers (2-6), the team committed 14 turnovers and 24 fouls. As a result it propelled Mason to 25 points off turnovers.
Longwood was out-rebounded 46-32 with a widespread effort by the Patriots. There were five players that brought in four rebounds apiece. Defensively the Lancers were able to create only one steal to Mason’s 10. Grayer had half with five steals.
The Patriots never trailed in the game and used a 17-0 run in the second half to seal the game.
Twelve of the thirteen rostered players, assuming A.J. Wilson will be red-shirted this season, entered the game. Troy Temara, who has missed the past couple games due to an ankle injury was dressed but did not see any action.
Of the twelve, eleven were able to score at least one point with the same eleven bringing in a rebound. Both DeAndre Abram, who has not played since the Patriots blowout loss to Houston, and Danny Dixon, who has only played one minute in the same stretch, saw action tonight off the bench. Combined the seven bench players were able to score 25 points, giving the starters some much needed rest after their intense schedule.
Abram had a productive performance in the eight minutes he played. He scored eight points, including hit two of three from long range, with four rebounds and no turnovers. While this game alone will not get him back in the team’s regular rotation, it definitely did not hurt.
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The leading scorer for Longwood was guard Darrion Allen with 16 points. Two other Lancers reached double figures, Isaiah Walton (15) and Khris Lane (11), while the bench struggled.
Freshman Justin Kier would record a career high 12 points in the game, while going a perfect 3-3 from the charity stripe. Jalen Jenkins had nine points and eight rebounds moving him to 16th in the all-time Mason rebounds list with 574.
The win was Mason’s eighth straight and gave Dave Paulsen his twentieth win with the Patriots. The win also jumps the Patriots to the top of the Atlantic 10 conference.
