Mason rebounds against Manhattan

Junior point guard Bryon Allen lays in a basket as the game winds down. He finished with 10 points and six assists in the blowout win (John Powell).

Fairfax, Va. - The men’s basketball team (8-5) took down the Manhattan Jaspers (8-4) by 20 points, 81-61, to rebound from their first home loss in more than a year.  

The Patriots fell after getting behind early on Wednesday night to Duquesne, trying to extend their home winning streak to a Patriot Center-best 19 games, but were unsuccessful after the crowd turned. 

In that game, they were plagued by poor work on the boards, poor turnover numbers, and poor scoring overall. The only bright spots were the return of senior guard Andre Cornelius, who had an 11-point Wednesday, and Doc Nix.

It was their first game after an 11-day layoff, and it seemed to get them back in to a groove. With former Patriot guard Isaiah Tate in the crowd, the team stayed loose early. Shots were not going in, but defensive pressure made the poor percentage meaningless.

"I just thought we were more attentive on the defensive end," Hewitt said. "It was just that their focus was on the defensive end so no matter what is going on on offense, missing free throws, turning the ball over, they had something to focus, latch on to."

Mason racked up the issues on the offensive side of the court, with problems in ball-handling to complement their shooting woes. A turnover by senior forward Mike Morrison only 20 seconds into the same started the ugly trend. The Patriots finished with 11 for the first half, the mark Hewitt aimed for over 40 minutes.

Lucky for the home team, they were playing a team known even more for their turnover problems. The Jaspers tallied 14 of their own over their first 20 minutes.

The seniors took the load on themselves when shooting was floundering. Forward Ryan Pearson was back on track with his shooting, like Mason fans had hoped. In his first half, his eight points led both teams. Morrison added with five points and six first-half rebounds, on pace for Hewitt's goal of a rebound every three minutes.

"We were kind of upset with ourselves about the way we played [against Duquesne] and we wanted to come out stronger and attack first," Pearson said. "Physicality, that's the way they play, that's their style of play. We just basically had to match that intensity."

The Patriots ended the first half with a 2-point lead, but the dominance proved itself early in the second half. With unanswered shots from Sherrod Wright, Bryon Allen and Pearson, the lead expanded to eight points.

Allen only played seven minutes in the first half, but the second-half spark was enough to get him going. His lack of scoring and assist numbers in the first half gave freshman Corey Edwards a chance at the point, but he only made one shot and gave two assists in 13 minutes, apparently not enough. Allen answered in the second half, working 19 minutes to total 10 points and six assists.

As a team, Mason's shooting percentage nearly doubled. They scored on 36.4 percent of shots in the first half and worked the paint to a 69.0 percent second half. Manhattan tried to respond, bringing their percentage from 25.9 percent to a 34.4 mark, but it proved too little too late.

"I think it was just our defense," Pearson said. "We paid more attention to detail, we got a great scouting report. And the guys really paid attention to it."

Vertrail Vaughns and Allen helped out the offense, especially in the second half, by adding two double-digit scoring performances. Vaughns lost his shot before the players' exam week, but did some work during the layoff to find his old pattern again.

"I went into a little shooting slump," he said. "But the coaches helped me after practice. I got extra shots up. They were telling me what I needed to do to correct my shot. It came naturally tonight."

The Patriots went on to make an 8-point run for a 15-point lead and finished on an 8-2 run. It was instrumental in getting Morrison and Pearson their gaudy numbers. Morrison finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Pearson went 25 and 10 for the second double-double of a dominating night. 

The Patriots have their first win as they look to begin another winning streak. They end their non-conference portion of the schedule at College of Charleston on Dec. 30, with a 7 p.m. start time. They come back home to play their second game in CAA play against the College of William & Mary, with a noon start time on Jan. 2.