BY NATALIE HEAVREN, SPORTS EDITOR
Men’s Basketball defeated George Washington University 62-55 for just the fourth time in school history. The Patriots got off to a much slower start than many expected in the latest installment of the Revolutionary Rivalry, as the team failed to score in the first five minutes.
Mason went 11-22 from the floor the rest of the first half and took a 27-25 lead into halftime. After Jason Douglas-Stanley made a three with 12:33 left in the game to stretch the lead to eight, George Washington failed to get within six points of Mason for the rest of the game.
The Patriots are now 7-1 in Atlantic 10 (A-10) conference play, 13-8 overall and riding a five-game winning streak.
Here are three takeaways from the Patriots’ win.
- Free throws may not have been important this game, but that is not the norm
The team went 11-26 from the free throw line, making just 42.3 percent of their shots. This is the worst the Patriots have shot from the line since they made just four of their 11 free throw attempts against the University of Cincinnati.
Justin Kier, Jordan Miller and Greg Calixte all went to the line more than once and failed to make at least half of their free throws. They combined to go 4-15 from the line, just 26.7 percent.
Otis Livingston II made all three of his free throw attempts, while Ian Boyd made three of his four attempts.
The team entered the game as the best free throw shooting team in the conference. It will be important for the Patriots to continue knocking down their free throws as conference plays out.
2. Three-point shooting woes at home continue
While Mason is sixth in the conference from behind the arc, they have been shooting significantly better on the road.
Since the start of the season, they have shot 40.2 percent from behind the arc in away games despite shooting just 27.6 percent at home. Against George Washington, the Patriots went 29.4 percent from behind the arc.
In the six games where the Patriots have shot above 40 percent from behind the arc, two have come at home.
Hitting three-point shots not only puts more points on the board, it also opens up other shots. It will be increasingly important for the team to do so as conference play continues.
3. Mason shot their way through a slow start
Despite starting the game 0-7, the team shot 41.8 percent from the floor during the game. However, 12 of the team’s 22 misses were from behind the arc.
Being resilient enough to recover from a slow start will be important, as there are some tough defenses in the A-10.
The Patriots return home to take on La Salle University on Feb. 10 at 2 p.m.
