For the second game in a row, George Mason used a furious second half rally to steal a win from the jaws of defeat. Today’s victim was the George Washington Colonials, who were playing just their second games back from their 36-day COVID pause.
But from the way the game started, you wouldn’t know which of these two teams was the rusty one. GW came out and punched Mason right on the mouth, early and often in the first half. The Colonials used a 16-2 run to take a 25-11 lead at one point. Mason tried to chip away, but credit GW for holding off the Patriots well. Jamison Battle hit a corner three in the waning seconds of the first half to give George Washington a 36-23 lead at the break.
Not a whole lot went well for Mason in the first 20 minutes. The Patriots shot 23% from the field, while the Colonials shot a blazing 61% themselves. As DP put it postgame, it was like there was a lid on the basket, and it had to give sometime. And boy did it.
Mason stormed out of the locker room with an extended 12-2 run over the first seven minutes of the second half, drawing to within four. GW responded with a pair of James Bishop buckets that ballooned the Colonials’ lead back out to 9 again. George Mason then went on an 8-2 run thanks to pull back within two. It looked like Mason was finally on track to tie the game…and then AJ Wilson missed a bunny. The ball goes back the other way and Tyler Brelsford knocked down a three.
I’d be lying if I didn’t think Mason just blew their one shot to finally tie the game. But they kept battling. Every time I would look up at the scoreboard and think “this is getting away,” they found a way to hang around.
A minute and a half later, Josh Oduro went into takeover mode. He scored four buckets in the span of about three minutes, apart of a personal 8-1 run that gave George Mason their first lead of the second half at 51-50 with 6:16 left to play. But the Colonials, despite their ever-growingly obvious fatigue stuck with it too. James Bishop knocked down a bucket with 2:28 left to play that gave GW the lead back at 56-55. But a late 7-0 run sealed the deal for the Patriots tonight. That, and two fateful GW turnovers with a minute left all but wrapped this one up.
The crazy thing too is that via this win, and because of the results elsewhere around the Atlantic 10, George Mason, even at 7-6, has climbed all the way into 6th place. As long as they hold onto that spot with a win on Saturday against La Salle, it would mark one spot off of Mason’s best finish under Dave Paulsen. Pretty bizarre given the Patriots seemed to spend the vast majority of conference play floating at right around the 11-spot.
It’s also worth noting from this game that this win clearly meant something to Mojo. This was his first time facing his former team, and he was visibly amped on the sideline. He dunked the ball during pregame warmups, he made a point to shake hands with the GW coaching staff before and after the game. Jordan Miller declined to comment about it after the game, but you just got the sense that this win meant a little extra to this team tonight.
George Mason will wrap up the regular season on Saturday against La Salle at 4:30. The game will be broadcast on NBCSN. See you for Senior Night.
