Chalk up another ugly win for George Mason

Broken record folks. This year's George Mason team is the turning into the king of ugly affairs in the CAA. The latest win yesterday in this style against ODU was foul heavy, with numerous early turnovers, and bad shooting.  Mason got another heroic or lucky performance from the bench and this time it was freshman Corey Edwards. The Patriots were leading by three with about three and half minutes to go in the game when Edwards threw up a three-pointer that banked in off the glass.  It was Mason's only made three-pointer in the game and it gave them the cushion they needed to keep their lead.  Neither team shot over 33% from the field, with Mason having a dreadful night from the there (27.7%).  In the end the Patriots took more advantage at the foul line, especially late in the game. Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison went a combined 17-for-20 from the line, which proved to be the difference in this sloppy game.  ODU's strong half court defense kept them in the game and it was difficult for Mason to get any kind of rhythm going on offense.  

Another broken record is the number of turnovers this team constantly commits. They continue to be a troubling stat as they coughed it up 21 times yesterday compared to ODU's 17.  Some of that is just how this game some was just the Patriots being sloppy.  An even scarier statistic is that VCU is currently 15-1 when their opponents turn over the ball 15 times or more. The Patriots have to clean this up somehow with the Rams still on the schedule twice. 

New scoreboard was up but not fully complete

You have to take away from this that Mason is still winning these types of games because this is what we can expect the CAA tournament to be like this year. This game proved that offensive numbers mean nothing in a good old fashion rock fight between conference heavy weights.  Mason has the conference's best offense entering into this game but you wouldn't have thought that after watching this one.  At this point of the year stats mean less and less, wins are what matters.  

Guard Jordan Baird sang the national anthem 

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[Photos by John Powell]