George Mason survives Delaware and gets some help to secure a top 4 seed

Another road game for the Patriots that could have ended ugly but the team had a few bounces go their way and escaped Delaware with a 61-59 win. The win tonight, coupled with losses by William & Mary and Drexel secure the Patriots a top 4 seed and thus avoiding the Friday games in the CAA tournament. Mason can earn the #3 seed with a win over Northeastern this Saturday or with a William & Mary loss. The win over the Blue Hens was ugly and again the Patriots struggled from the free-throw line despite getting many opportunities. They were so bad from there (53%) that they nearly lost their small lead several times late in the second half. The team got what it needed from Cam Long and Andre Cornelius who both started off the game strong. Mike Morrison looked a little rusty while Kevin Foster and Johnny Williams were invisible. Sherrod Wright scored 8 of his 10 points in the second half and gave Mason the late spark it needed. Ryan Pearson's inside game was needed a bit more but he was strong on the boards.

The Patriots nearly gave the game away with numerous early turnovers, fouls, and poor defense on Delaware's best player Jawan Carter. The second half defense on Carter was much better and it allowed Mason to go on a few runs to establish a lead. The on going problem however is the poor free-throw shooting which is still a big concern. How can we expect this team to beat anyone in the conference tournament when they leave this many points on the table? Those missed opportunities have been killing the Patriots' tempo and it keeps allowing weaker opponents to hang around late in the game.

I hate to say Mason was lucky in this game but let's face it, they were. Luck or not they find themselves in a comfortable position after losing 5 of 6 games. Now with Morrison back the team at least has another game to get back into a rhythm before the conference tournament. I still don't think it's crazy to say this team could go on a run and do some damage in the CAA tournament because they been so up and down the whole year it's nearly impossible to predict anymore of their outcomes.

Notice how from the statsheet.com chart how frequently they got to the free-throw line and didn't take advantage:

NCAA Basketball