Mason Defeats Bridgewater, Two Players Stand Out

December 21, 2023

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Mason has moved on to 9-2 after defeating D3 Bridgewater 84 to 60.

Amari Kelly, Malik Henry, and Darius Maddox did not play this game, so Woody Newton once again played center.

It’s a D3 opponent, so you can’t take too much, if any, away from it, but Keyshawn Hall scored a career-high 36 on great efficiency, and Kam Johnson was out there looking like a scholarship player.

The two-point defense looked awesome as usual, but anything short of that would’ve been extremely concerning since they played a D3 school.

Mason did turn the ball over 16 times, more than they normally do, which is a bit worrying. Hopefully it was just Mason’s players underestimating how tight some passing lanes would be.

Keyshawn Hall scored 36 on 15-18 from the field while grabbing 12 boards. He could do whatever he wanted.

SHOWTIME 🤩@baraka_okojie ➡️ @xkeyy2 pic.twitter.com/3LRUF9fx8w

— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) December 20, 2023

I hope Hall breaks his new career high this season, not only because I want him to do well, but because I don’t want to have to say “against D3 Bridgewater” every time I mention it. His 29 against Cornell was more impressive than this.

Walk-on Kam Johnson played 10 minutes, scored 5 points, and grabbed 4 boards. That is how you use the minutes you’re given. This is the first team we’ve seen Kam play competitive minutes since he had to fill in against VCU last season. Good for him.

KAM. JOHNSON.@shiftykam21 | #PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/JvVLurqN92

— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) December 20, 2023

I did not know he could move like that. His Twitter handle of ShiftyKam is fitting.

As Jon Rothstein says, depth is overrated in games, but underrated in practice.

The 14^th man (13^th in Mason’s case) is much more important in practice than in games. Kam Johnson on your scout team is really helpful. Iron sharpens iron.