Back to business

Patriots maintained their home court dominance in a big win over Hofstra last night. Mason was never threatened in this one and we saw a much improved defensive effort, holding the Pride to under 30% on the night. John Vaughan and Ryan Pearson each finished with 16 points as the Patriots shot 49%. And anyone who said Vaughan missing from the VCU and Old Dominion games didn't have a big impact should have taken notice of how Mason was able to break the full-court press by Hofstra with ease when in-bounding to the ball to him. Mason as a whole did a great job creating fast break opportunities and spreading the ball around for open shots. Cam Long had a quiet night as his big play ability wasn't needed with Mason coasting most of the 2nd half. Getting to the free-throw line was a big key in this one as the Patriots got 24 points from there. Pearson and Cornelius got to the line fairly easily and I would hope to see more of that in the future. The CAA's second leading scorer, Charles Jenkins, was held below his average as the Patriots did not let anyone on the Pride's offense get going. The only downside for the Patriots last night was that Hofstra was able to get 23 offensive rebounds and you have to wonder how much more the margin would have been on the scoreboard if they didn't get all those second chance points. It's always good to see the youth of this team shine in conference play and progression of freshmen is really starting to show. Mike Morrison set a pick that leveled a Hofstra player and had a thunderous dunk to follow it up. Monroe, Pearson and Morrison held their own in the front court; something I really hope to see February 14th when Northeastern comes to town.