Mason Succumbs to Bobcats in Second Half

By Connect Mason Sports Director Damien Sordelett
Photo by Connect Mason Asst. Convergence Director Grace Kendall

• See the game as if you were there via our gallery of photos taken by one of our very own, student extraordinaire Grace Kendall.

ATHENS, Ohio – In pregame warm-ups, Folarin Campbell was hearing an ear full from the Ohio University student section, the “O-Zone.”

Never one to back down from a challenge, Campbell stood in the middle of the students and fired up a 3-pointer, which calmly sank through the net and quieted the students.

That would be the only time the Patriots would silence the crowd.

Bubba Walther scored 21 points, 18 of which came in the second half, and Leon Williams added 16 and 11 rebounds as Ohio (18-9) defeated George Mason (19-9) 69-57 Saturday before 7,439 at the Convocation Center.

Campbell paced the Patriots with 18 points and John Vaughan chipped in 12. Will Thomas was held in check, scoring only nine points and pulling down a team-high nine rebounds.

“I really think that we have exhausted ourselves. We don’t seem to have the energy in the second half,” George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said. “Some of it has to do with that we don’t have a deep bench. We rely every heavily on our starting five and maybe one guy off the bench.”

That lack of depth was put front and center in the second half. Up 32-19 to start the half, Mason gave up a 12-1 run to the Bobcats, allowing Ohio to finally take their first lead of the day with 10:47 left.

After an exchange of baskets, Ohio took the lead for good with 5:31 remaining on a Walther jumper to make it 49-48. The Bobcats were aided by Mason’s inability to convert in the second half, as the Patriots hit only 7 of their 25 shots.

“We stopped sharing the ball. It’s evident in our road losses this year; the first half we come out strong because we’re sharing the ball and taking open shots,” Vaughan said. “We just stopped sharing the ball in the second half and we were missing and they were getting leak outs and once they got in a rhythm, it was hard to stop.”

While the Bobcats hit 17 of their 29 second half shots, the Patriots were unable to get the ball inside to their reliable big man. Thomas was held to just six shots – the entire game.

“Very obviously, that’s the difference in our team,” Larranaga said. “If we could have gotten Will the ball and he finished some baskets, we could have stayed in front.”

“Watching film, we saw that everybody was playing behind him and just letting him get it,” Williams said. “We tried to three-quarter front him or just front him all the way to disrupt what they wanted to do. That was our objective, not letting him be comfortable and get the ball.”

For Thomas, it was just another battle inside for the all-CAA forward. This time, the energy of the 6-foot-7 senior was not enough to carry the Patriots to a much needed non-conference victory.

“They just played great team defense. Made all our perimeter shoot a little bit more and couldn’t really get the ball inside and get easy buckets like we normally do,” Thomas said. “We didn’t come out with enough energy on the defensive end and get stops. Offensively, we were walking the ball up the court instead of running like we did in the first half.”