Cornelius leads Patriots over Pirates

Mason earned it's second road win last night, which compared to last season at this time, is impressive enough on it's own. But factor in that freshman guard Andre Cornelius put on a show and Mason fans should be a little less worried about the upcoming season. Cornelius drained five three-pointers while he and Birdsong finished with 19. Birdsong has been leading the way in scoring two straight games, something we did not see last season. It was great to see Mason get this victory without Monroe having a great night. Although the big man did finish with 9 points and 9 rebounds but was less involved down the stretch. Mason's guards needed to show up and make shots after the Hampton game diaster. Not only did they shoot the ball much better but they protected it as well, only surrending 8 turnovers. Defensively it was not their best of the season as they let the Pirates shoot over 45% from the field and hit 10 three-pointers. Sam Hinnant (27 pts) was large part of that as the Patriots struggled guarding him all night, constantly switching up who was defending him. The Patriots relied a little too much on their three-point shooting in this one but proved that when they are on they can be very dangerous from long range. John Vaughan and Dre Smith are not really leading this team as they should. Meaning, when the Patriots needed a score they didn't get it from either of those two. Cornelius and Birdsong were a lot more clutch in this game and I don't know if that's a good thing or not. When have the Patriots ever relied on younger talent over their seniors? Dre improved from the three-point line which is great, let's hope this continues. All in all another impressive road victory for this young Patriot squad.