George Mason's quick defense takes down Harvard

Early on in this game yesterday you could tell it was opening day for both squads.  Turnovers and fouls were abundant and easy lay-ups were just not falling. The Patriots played a much more aggressive 2nd half and used their quick defensive players to secure a 66-53 victory over the Crimson.  Luke Hancock led the Patriots in scoring with 14 while Ryan Pearson had 13, most of which came on the Patriots run in the 2nd half. Cam Long was the game MVP though as he collected 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists.  You can already tell the difference in his confidence between this season and last year. The team had 18 assists including a behind the back pass from Mike Morrison to Vertrail Vaughns late in the 2nd half.  Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson however were limited in the 1st half due to early foul trouble and that forced freshman Jonathan Arledge to play 13 minutes and Johnny Williams to get some action despite still nursing an injured shoulder (still was wearing a shoulder brace).  

The Patriots brought the intensity in the 2nd half and used a 14-0 run to build a lead and never look back. During the run Andre Cornelius had back-to-back steals that he converted into lay-ups with ease. The team also had 7 blocks in the game including Isaiah Tate blocking consecutive three-point attempts and Mike Morrison nearly getting two hands on one of his.  Larranaga did have them using the scramble defense at times and it was obvious with the number of turnovers they were forcing.  Overall they just looked a lot more quick and athletic than the Crimson who didn't really have much offense to speak of outside of forward Keith Wright. The Patriots did a good job protecting the perimeter and not giving Harvard too many open three-point looks.  

NCAA Basketball

Below is the post game from Coach Larranaga. TheMasonBench.com should have the full post game including Luke Hancock and Cam Long.