On Tuesday, George Mason took on the Navy Midshipmen in a way-too-close-for-comfort battle.
The Patriots got off to an extremely slow start as it took Mason a full ten minutes for them to break into double digits. (9-10 at 10:58 of the first half).
The Patriots finished the half scoring only 20 points, going a dismal 8-27 from the floor, 1-11 from three, 3-8 from the charity stripe and recorded 17 rebounds, 1 assist, and 7 turnovers.
Bad half for Mason in the first game of the season.
Navy battled hard with the Patriots throughout the first half, they recorded 22 points, going 8-25 from the field, 2-9 from behind the arc, and recorded 23 rebounds, 6 assists, and a whopping 11 turnovers.
However, things turned around for the Patriots at the beginning of the second half going on a 15-2 run.
This quickly ended as that lead was extinguished when Navy when on a 17-6 run of their own.
In the second half, George Mason scored 32 points, going 13-26 from the field, 3-7 from three, and recorded 13 rebounds, 10 assists, and 6 turnovers.
For Navy, they scored 30 points, going 12-27 from the field, 2-9 from three, and recorded 16 rebounds, 8 assists, and 7 turnovers.
Still tied at 52. This game went to OT.
Three threes for Mason started the OT scoring. One by Hartwell, one by Greene, one by Johnson. 61-54.
Greene sealed the deal with one more three to sink the ships.
GEORGE MASON WINS 68-55 AGAINST NAVY
Some things from the first game of the season:
Mason really needs to make their free throws, like there’s no excuse for that.
The Patriots were plagued with bad bounces and missing free throws. It also did not help that Jordan Miller was in foul trouble and that Mason could not break through Navy’s 2-3 zone.
Mason also had many holes in their defense in the first half allowing Navy to score backdoor points over and over.
Sloppy passing was prevalent in this one for the Patriots, too many players trying to unnecessary moves.
AJ Wilson had like 5 dunks in this one, 2 of which were insane.
A F-ing J pic.twitter.com/zxrFUUYmt4
— By George. (@ByGeorgeGMU) November 6, 2019
Jordan Miller was the bright spot in the game until he wasn’t. He finished with 9 points going 4-6 from the field in 15 minutes of play.
Rebounding was a major problem for the Patriots as they were outrebounded 37-26.
Navy has grabbed 15 of their 29 misses. Only thing keeping them in this. https://t.co/e030WhSto4
— Petey Buckets (@peteybuckets) November 6, 2019
Jamal Hartwell hit a 3-pointer to tie the score at 52 with 51.4 seconds left, clutch play, but It was really his only bright spot of tonight. It also didn’t help that he missed the game-winning shot.
3-point shooting finally showed up in the OT period. Mason hit four daggers that Navy had to contest with.
Mason showed up in the OT period, but I felt they did not in the first two halves. Hopefully, it was just the first game jitters.
Mason plays Longwood on Friday, Nov. 8 at EagleBank Arena. See you then.
