Mason on the wrong end of Battle of the Orange Line blow out

Entering the game missing two starters, you knew this was going to be an interesting road test for the young Patriots. But missing the two sophomores Pearson and Cornelius doomed Mason with sloppy play and countless turnovers that led to a 66-49 beating. Hancock and Long attempted to hold things together but a back injury sidelined Long for a bit in the first half. The Patriots just never got momentum, every big shot they made they would turnover the ball and give the Colonials an easy basket or two. For most of the game is looked like GW vs GMU JV out there and the Colonials went on a couple of runs early. Rebounding was a key area the Patriots failed to prevail in. They looked over-matched on the boards and they really shouldn't have and without Ryan Pearson offensive rebounds were scarce. The overall shooting from Mason was just plain terrible as they shot 30% in the first half and finished just barely above that. Louis Birdsong came out flat again and really set the Patriots back early. While being terrible from the field, Mason could not take advantage at the free-throw line with all the fouls the Colonials were giving. It's not like the Colonials came firing off the blocks, their shooting was bad also in the beginning but the difference was they were making the Patriots pay for their turnovers. Even worse only one GW player finished in double figures, their best player Damian Hollis (25 points). Defensively the freshmen just aren't there yet with Larranaga's system and this is the result. Road games are going to be tough for these young guys but I think we really hoped to see more, especially from Sherrod Wright. This is one of those games where you hope the team learned something, like not to break team rules.

Below is a chart from StatSheet.com and it highlights the "Four Factors to Winning at Basketball". If you have never heard of this statistical breakdown before read more about what they mean here. Notice how Mason was able to get to the free-throw line much more than GW but failed to capitalize.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Photo Credit [Flickr djotpics]