George Mason fell tonight in another heartbreaking late loss, 62-59 at the Robins Center in Richmond.
The odds felt stacked against the Patriots before the game even started. Leading scorer, A10 Player of the Year favorite and team MVP Josh Oduro was out for his second straight game due to a concussion. But Mason fought hard from the get go.
From the very start, the team was dominant on the glass, and after a slightly slow start, were lockdown defensively as well. Richmond only shot 22/56 from the field for a 39% clip on the night, and Mason out rebounded Spidey 40-24 for the whole game.
However, it just wasn’t enough for the Patriots. The team only shot 5/16 from three, and 15 turnovers were key factors in the loss. Free throws however were not the issue tonight. The Patriots were 14/16 from the line, for an 88% clip, one of the best performances from the line of the year.
Ticket Gaines also had another tremendous game. He was Mason’s key man tonight, scoring 17 points, adding on 9 boards with 4 assists and a steal.
Tonight should also be highlighted by the strong defensive performances done by Malik Henry and Blake Jones. Henry was dominant on the glass tonight, grabbing 7 boards in the game. Jones also looked his best this entire season, and grabbed 3 boards along with a made 3 pointer and a block.
Jacob Gilyard was the main killer tonight for Richmond. The 5’9″ guard scored 23 tonight, with 7 three pointers that included the last second game winner. Tyler Burton had 14, while usual Patriot killer Grant Golden was held to only 11 points tonight. No Spider had more than 5 rebounds.
Kim English and Mason will look to get swift revenge on the Spiders Wednesday night at 7PM at Eagle Bank Arena.
