Patriots Collapse in OT

In possibly the most disappointing loss in the season, George Mason collapsed against an ODU team they were leading almost the entire game, in front of a near sell out in Fairfax. This is Mason's 4th home loss this season, the most since 1998. The Patriots had trouble getting into a rhythm and had many chances to put away the Monarchs but just could not get more than a six point lead. Arnaud Dahi's three pointer at the buzzer sent the game into overtime leaving myself and the rest of the Patriot Center in utter silence. Mason did not score in overtime and looked like a defeated team even before the extra period started. How did this happen? Larranaga puts the blame on himself for not calling a timeout during the Monarchs comeback in the last 90 seconds. How could he make a mental mistake like that at this point in the season? But you can't put all the blame on the coach, Dahi made that three pointer while being wide open and after ODU had just missed an attempt then quickly rebounded it right back. At certain points in the game Folarin Campbell looked unstoppable on his way to 23 points, but Will Thomas was shut down for the most part and limited to only 7. This opened things up for Darryl Monroe who had his best game as a Patriot scoring 17. Monroe has drastically improved and looks a lot more comfortable out there. John Vaughan was back in the starting lineup and went 0 for 9 including an air ball layup in OT. Why he got 10 more minutes of playing time in this game over Dre Smith I'll never know. Here was a game where Mason was playing their brand of basketball by using their strong low post game to create opportunities and they were, but no one besides Campbell hit shots from outside. Vaughan, Smith, and Carter have all had their share of good shooting nights but they are all terribly inconsistent, putting more pressure on Campbell and Thomas. Their inconsistency makes Mason one dimensional on offense and easy to defend.