Mason's home dominance against the CAA comes to an end

It was an important game for the Patriots, a win would have locked up a top 4 spot in the conference standings and guarantee them not playing on Friday of the conference tournament. Unfortunately Mason lost 63-60 to the Tribe at home for only the second time this season and had their home winning streak against CAA opponents snapped at 18. This time they weren't battling back from a deficit and had the lead for most of the game. Kevin Foster had a career night, 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks in Mike Morrison's absence but the only problem was he received little help from the rest of the squad. Foster, who by my count has 5 DNPs this season, was aggressive in the front court and helped the Patriots mount an early lead despite not getting much from their top 2 scorers, Cam Long and Ryan Pearson. Long was just plain awful in a high stakes game for Mason as he missed all 6 shots from the field and finished with three points off some late free-throws. Larranaga tries to blame it on late season fatigue:

""There's nothing you can really do when every game is so important: Your best players have to be out there," he said. "They both were less aggressive with the ball than they are normally.""

Didn't seem to be much fatigue in the first half when the Patriots were forcing turnovers and getting easy lay-ups off fast breaks. William & Mary however was just a relentless team that never gave up. They were unfazed by the Patriots big plays and answered every move with a strong counter of their own. Local Tribe member Danny Sumner (Fairfax native) was clutch down the stretch and even blocked Cam Long's shot with three seconds remaining. It was a little confusing why the Patriots waited so long to foul when they were down and the seconds were winding down. Now Mason finds itself holding on to 4th place in the standings with only two conference games remaining.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Here is a video of Kevin Foster's back-to-back alley-oops from Luke Hancock while we wait for Thuc Phan's highlights:

Andre Cornelius' thread the needle pass to Sherrod Wright: