Recap: Mason Drops a Heartbreaker to Kansas State

Mason basketball ran the gamut of emotions in a 59-58 loss to Kansas State tonight in Manhattan. Trailing 36-16 at half and 44-23 at the 15-minute mark, Mason stormed (almost) all the way back and had two chances to take the lead in the final seconds. Justin Kier missed a floater in the lane, then after a Kansas State turnover, Mason failed to get off a shot on the ensuing inbounds play as the clock expired.

In an ugly first half that was too much to overcome, Mason shot 7-27 from the field, 1-10 from three, and 1-4 from the free throw line. Kansas State was 13-29 from the field, 5-11 from three, and 5-7 from the free throw line, taking a 20 point lead into the break.

Mason came alive in the second half through a balanced attack as nine Patriots scored. Javon Greene led the way with 10 of his 12 points, Justin Kier chipped in 8, Jarred Reuter 7, and Otis Livingston 5. Mason shot 5-9 from three with five different players hitting a longball. On the other side, Kansas State shot 9-23, 1-6 from the line, and mustered only 23 total points.

In the final 20 seconds of the game, Kansas State’s Cartier Diarra missed an open three that was halfway down before it popped out. Mason got the rebound and elected not to take a timeout. Dave Paulsen explained in the postgame press conference that he didn’t want to give Kansas State’s defense a chance to set itself. Justin Kier nearly dribbled the ball out of bounds before recovering and driving into the lane where a good look at a floater came up short. Kansas State rebounded and committed a double dribble while trying to race down the floor and run out the clock, giving Mason another shot to win with 1.2 seconds remaining. Ian Boyd couldn’t handle Kier’s inbound pass, and Mason didn’t get a shot off as the buzzer sounded.

Some noteworthy things from tonight’s game:

• Mason turned the ball over only five times, the fewest in over two years (a victory over Mercer in December 2016). Five turnovers ties for a record low in the Dave Paulsen era.
• Justin Kier has now hit double figures in six consecutive games, and ten of thirteen games on the season.
• Otis Livingston was held to 5 points on 2-6 shooting. This is his fifth game on the season falling short of double-digits. He had six such games all last season. I attribute tonight’s performance to Kansas State consistently throwing doubles at him and forcing the ball out of his hands, something we’ll see more of this season.
• Jarred Reuter played perhaps his most complete game, totaling 11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, one steal and one block. The frontcourt appears to be settling into a rotation where Reuter gets the lion’s share of the minutes, and Greg Calixte and AJ Wilson split minutes behind him.

The Patriots are back in action on Thursday, January 3^rd against St. Joseph’s in Philadelphia for the start of conference play.