Mason Kicks off Conference Play with a Comeback

By Palmer Johnson

Your George Mason Patriots defeated Fran Dunphy’s La Salle Explorers to the tune of 77 to 55 to move to a record of 12-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

This is a strong start to conference play, as Mason traveled to Philly, was down 10 near the end of the first half, and utterly dominated the second half. The Patriots had separate 13-0 and 16-2 between the 18- and 4-minute marks.

The Explorers came out firing on all cylinders, shooting over 50% from three in the first half.

La Salle only scored nine in the first 16 minutes of the second half, while Mason scored 31. A 31-9 extended run on the road is crazy.

Keyshawn Hall started off conference play looking like an A10 Player of the Year candidate, dropping 27 points on 10-17 shooting and 13 rebounds. Board man gets paid. Five turnovers from him are a bit concerning, but I guess you’ll take it when he’s shooting that efficiently. If the breakout sophomore can clean up the turnovers, he will be unbelievable.

Darius Maddox was awesome. He scored 15 on 3-6 from the field, 3-4 from three, and hit back-to-back killers in the second half that took La Salle out of the game. And of course, he played awesome defense.

Darius pull ups 🤌#PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/wr5unYSqsS

— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) January 4, 2024

Amari Kelly didn’t have a particularly good game on the offensive end, but was a monster on defense other than the random Ryan Zan scare near the beginning of the game.

Too much space for the big fella.@AmariKelly12 | #PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/CujVgJacFI

— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) January 4, 2024

Also, I am not sure Amari Kelly knew which line was the real one in the heat of the game. There were black and yellow three-point lines, and the yellow one was the NCAA men’s line, but it seemed like Kelly looked at his feet for the black one. I assume La Salle does this so they have a bit of an advantage.

Baraka Okojie played an important role in this game. He ended up playing more minutes than Ronald Polite, probably because of his defensive prowess. Okojie facilitated the offense better than you could ask from a freshman.

We’ve said it before.

Lot of chutzpah in this freshman!#PatriotPressure pic.twitter.com/AxGfo3YrPp

— George Mason Men's Basketball (@MasonMBB) January 4, 2024

This was one of those Jared Billups games. 6 points, 8 rebounds, hit a three, and awesome defense. What more can you ask from him? He ended up with an offensive rating of 184 in 29 minutes. I believe he was in the game for both of the big runs, which would explain the extraordinary 1.84 points per possession.

Malik Henry got his twelve minutes and used it wisely, being the hustle man and staying out of foul trouble.

While you would much rather Mason start out dominating, a win like this is very encouraging. Mason can come out flat on defense but make adjustments at halftime and dominate. It’s very fun that they can do it, a little less fun that they had to. In general, coming back from decent deficits on the road are not sustainable.

Tony Skinn is undefeated in conference play.

Next up, the conference home opener against Saint Louis.