Road woes continue for the Patriots

Mason just can't seem to get it done on the road this year in the CAA. Last night we saw the Patriots again fumble one away on the road in what was essentially a winnable match. Mason has lost three CAA road games by a combined total of 8 points. Yes, that's right 8 points TOTAL. Some would say this team doesn't have a clutch go-to guy like an Eric Maynor, but really I think it's poor decision making on Mason's part. They fail to get the ball into the hands of whoever is shooting well that night. As the game came down to the finals seconds and Mason had the ball with a chance to win it due to the Monarchs missing some free throws, Cam Long took it up court and got off a decent shot but it fell short. They had no timeouts so he had to do it but wouldn't it have been better to see a play to Ryan Pearson (career-high 18 points) who at certain points last night seemed unstoppable in the front court.

What was disappointing in this game was the defensive effort by the Patriots. They let the Monarchs get off way too many easy shots the entire game. Gerald Lee had so many uncontested lay-ups I wanted to vomit. Just like against Northeastern and VCU the Patriots let the other team's "star" get going way too often, and essentially it was a huge difference maker in the outcome. Rebounding and turnovers were able even for both sides and the shooting was off the charts. Old Dominion started off hot and didn't seem to miss a shot for about 10 minutes while believe it or not Mason shot better overall going over 58% for the field. I would be interested to see the history of the Patriots losing when shooting that good from the field. Honestly it seems like it would be difficult to lose when you shooting that well and don't commit more than 8 turnovers. John Vaughan started the game and looked good aggressive picking up 7 rebounds and 2 steals. Today in the WaPo John Feinstein has a nice little piece on him. Dre Smith also looked good creating a lot of fast break points for Mason and hitting some threes. Andre Cornelius and Isaiah Tate were non-factors after playing well against Delaware, both did not get many minutes with Vaughan's return.