George Mason defeats Houston in OT, will host Western Michigan Wednesday in CBI semifinals

George Mason played one of their better games of the season last night in their overtime win against Houston. The Patriots opened the game on fire with a 15-0 run but you knew Houston, a high-scoring, uptempo team, would make their run to try and get back into it. They started to before the first half ended but Mason did a good job of defending the perimeter and getting to the foul line to slow down the Cougars. Sherrod Wright had 29 points and Houston didn't have an answer for him on defense all night. Bryon Allen continues to have a great March and was two rebounds and one assist short of a triple-double. Freshman Patrick Holloway and Marko Gujanicic logged a lot of minutes, which was good because that's part of the point in playing in the CBI. Both had a few miscues but they were in the game during the critical moments and both helped Mason get the victory.

The Patriots have been playing some encouraging basketball in these last two games and are definitely taking this tournament seriously. I think this is a good start to begin to build towards next season. They are playing better together as a team and putting in more effort on the defensive end. They are also playing with a degree of confidence that we rarely saw throughout the season.

Mason had 17 points off turnovers, a lot of which came in the first half.

Too easy vine.co/v/bD3rg6Aj6Q3
— gmuhoops (@gmuhoops) March 25, 2013

The Patriots were also on-point from behind the arch last night and finished 11-22 on three-pointers. Patrick Holloway was 3-for-6:

Everything going right for Mason so far vine.co/v/bD3X0BniUx0
— gmuhoops (@gmuhoops) March 25, 2013

Erik Copes had a fairly quiet night but did have three blocks. One of which he put in the stands:

Monster block by Erik Copes vine.co/v/bD3wzmVDlt0
— gmuhoops (@gmuhoops) March 25, 2013

And a Bryon Allen put back slam:

Bryon Allen with the put back slam vine.co/v/bD3VET1XvKA
— gmuhoops (@gmuhoops) March 26, 2013

Next up for George Mason they will host Western Michigan on Wednesday night at 7 pm in the CBI semifinals. The winner will play either Santa Clara or Wright State in the finals, which is a best of three series. 

[Photo by Bill Bride]

NCAA Basketball Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats