November 23, 2017
Peter Solari
After trailing by as much as 17 points in the first half, and down 14 at the intermission, the George Mason basketball team finally came to life in the second stanza, making a furious comeback that came up just short. When the final buzzer sounded, the Fresno State Bulldogs breathed a huge sigh of relief, having escaped with a hard-fought 79-73 victory over the Patriots, in the consolation game of the Cancun Challenge on Wednesday night. Mason closed the gap to 3 points late in the second half, but just couldn't get over the hump, and will leave Mexico a .500 team after going 0-2 in the tournament. Here's more from
GoMason.com:
The high-octane Fresno State offense – which came into the game shooting
over 50 percent on the year – came as advertised. The Bulldogs shot
52.7 percent (29-55) from the floor and made eight 3-pointers on the
night. Mason shot 51.7 percent (15-29) in the second half but just 34.5
percent (10-29) in the first.
Sophomore Ian Boyd
led the Green & Gold with a career-best 18 points – 13 of which
came in the second half – and grabbed eight rebounds in 35 minutes of
work.
Junior Otis Livingston II added 18 points (6-10 FG, 2-3 3pt FG) and dished out three assists while freshman Goanar Mar continued his stellar play with 17 points (7-11 FG), 15 of which came in the second stanza.
In addition, Jaire Grayer totaled 12 points and gobbled up team-high nine rebounds in 32 minutes.
The Patriots hit four of their first seven shots to build an early 10-7
advantage. Fresno State responded with a 12-0 run over a 3+ minute
stretch to go up 19-10 at the 13:05 mark of the first half. The Bulldogs
hit their fourth 3-pointer in five attempts to extend the lead to 10
(27-17), and a 7-0 spurt from Fresno made it 41-24 with 2:40 to play in
the period. Mason entered the half trailing 43-29.
The Patriots hit seven of their first 10 shots in the second half –
including three from Mar and two from Boyd – to pull within eight
(52-44) at the 15-minute mark of the stanza. The Patriots then made
three of their next four – including two great finishes from Boyd – to
pull within three (57-54) with 11:11 to go.
Mason kept the margin at three (61-58) at the 8:33 mark of the half, but
Fresno State used a 3-point play to extend the lead back to eight
(71-63) with 4:09 to go.
With the Bulldogs leading 75-69 with 2:09 left, Mason scored four of the
next six to cut it to three (76-73) with 23 seconds remaining. But the
Patriots could not get any closer for the remainder of the game as
Fresno State escaped with the win.
Fresno State's Deshon Taylor led all scorers with 23, while teammate Ray Bowles chipped in 21. Bryson Williams contributed a double-double, grabbing 10 rebounds to go along with his 15 points.
Mason will now use a long Thanksgiving break to regroup, before they return to action next Wednesday against old CAA rival James Madison in Harrisonburg.
Now here's a look at the rest of Wednesday's men's basketball action in the Atlantic 10 Conference, courtesy of
Yahoo! Sports:
