View from the top

The Patriots keep their winning streak alive in the CAA and now currently sit alone at the top of the standings with a victory over JMU. Mason never trailed in this one and used strong runs at the beginning of each half to take control. They held the Dukes to an unimpressive shooting day without their starting PG Devon Moore. Their offense seemed to be very out of sync with his absence and they even struggled from the free-throw line. Louis Birdsong ended his scoring rut by scoring 15 and Ryan Pearson added 13, many off offensive rebounds. I had stated in my preview that these two guys would be the x-factors and they definitely seemed to a problem for the Dukes to contain. Darryl Monroe drew a lot of double-teams but was able to capitalize off it by setting up great low-post assists. Some questionable fouls kept freshman Michael Morrison from getting more minutes but he did look strong in the post and doesn't seem to be afraid to mix it up down low. Dre Smith and John Vaughan had relatively quiet nights offensively only hitting two three-pointers between the two of them. Cam Long continued to run the floor well and adding scoring when the Patriots needed it. His poise is really starting to help the offense run more smoothly. Andre Cornelius was another reason the offense was clicking yesterday as he finished up with 5 points and 5 assists. The Patriots offense seemed to run a lot schemes where the forwards were atop the key and the guards were down low attempting to post up. Cam Long and Dre Smith did this often yesterday and that flexibility on offense helped Mason keep the Dukes guessing on defense.

Mason did a great job defensively and held leading scoring Juwann James in check for most of the game. Yesterday was the fifth consecutive game the Patriots have held an opponent to under 60 points. They have kept numerous teams under 40% shooting from the field and they don't let teams get into any kind of rhythmn on offense even after big shots. If the Patriots turn the ball over and let the other team score off, they don't sit back and sulk they just keep on rolling. A lot of college teams are not disciplined that well and really it has been the reason the Patriots haven't had trouble closing out games this year.

Next up for Mason is a showdown at Northeastern on Wednesday. The Huskies are coming off a loss to Hofstra and this will be the Patriots toughest CAA road game so far. This next game along with the VCU game next Saturday will be the Patriots most important stretch of the season.

pictures from offwing.com