Patriots Bounce Back

After a perplexing loss to Georgia State, the Patriots were able to stay undefeated at home and grind out a win against Towson. A win is a win, right? Jordan Carter returned and only played 19 minutes, but it was good to see him running the point again. Will Thomas led the way with 20 points and 14 rebounds and JV added 19. The flow of the game was similar to that against GSU, where we saw Mason take control early and then allow the opponent to get back into the game during the second half. In fact, Mason held the Tigers without a field goal for over 8 minutes in the first half while on a 21-6 run. Without the aggressive offensive rebounding late in the game by Thomas and Vaughan, the Patriots could have easily dropped this one. Which begs the question, why does JV average more rebounds a game than Birdsong? Another scary fact is that Towson entered the game last in the CAA in three-point shooting and were able to go 12 for 26 to keep the game close in the 2nd half. Mason did respond late in the game with decent free throw shooting to close things out, but I still feel that the game should not have been this close in the first place. I was really hoping that at this point in the season would be seeing some meaningful minutes from Cam Long and Big Vlad, especially with the loss of Monroe for the season and the injury to Carter. Cam played one minute and Vlad and Tate didn't touch the court, how long can Coach L play multiple guys 35+ minutes with so many games left in the season? At times I feel as if the team is moving backwards progression wise then where they were in November. Despite the team's play they are still 2-1 in the conference and face Delaware on Wednesday in a battle for first place believe it or not.