Men’s Basketball routs UNCW, 80-52

Senior Isaiah Tate led all scores with 16 points in the Patriots' dominant victory over UNC Wilmington Saturday night to open the conference schedule. (John Powell)

The George Mason Men’s squad (6-2, 1-0) put on an electric performance in front of the home crowd Saturday night in their walloping of conference foe, the UNC Wilmington Seahawks (3-4, 0-1), to jumpstart the CAA season.

Early in the contest, the Patriots took advantage of the size discrepancy from the front line. Junior forward Ryan Pearson got off to a quick start, registering three quick buckets. Ten of the first 12 points scored by the Patriots came in the paint.

As soon as Head Coach Jim Larranaga went to his bench, known as the “Green Team,” the Patriots’ barrage of points began.

Bench production had been a major concern for the Patriots thus far this season, and Larranaga had been giving limited time to his role players. The bench scored just four points in Wednesday’s victory over George Washington.

“You’re basically playing a round, about four minutes,” Larranaga said, when describing his conversation earlier this week with his Green Team. “And how you perform in those four minutes impacts not only the team’s performance and our chances for success, but your performance and your chances to play more minutes.”

Larranaga’s pep talk to his bench players succeeded as sophomore guard Vertrail Vaughns lit up from three-point land in the first half, going 3-3 from deep. He ended the contest shooting 4-5 from behind the arc, finishing with a career-high 14 points.

“He’s an unconscious shooter,” Larranaga said jokingly. “He doesn’t know what range means. If I’m on the court and I’m open, I’m shooting.”

Senior Isaiah Tate fed off Vaughns’ hot shooting, going 4-4 from downtown. He also achieved a career high, scoring a game-high 16 points in his first start of the season. Usually the sixth man in the rotation, Tate received a starting role over sophomore Luke Hancock.

“Our guards were able to penetrate and they found me and Vertrail,” Tate said. “We got great looks and we were fortunate enough to make them.”

The Patriots exploded for 46 first half points, 24 of which came from the bench, and opened up a 21-point lead entering the locker room. They went an almost unheard of 7-11 from three in the first half.

The Patriots continued their hot shooting to open the second half as Vaughns and Tate continued to find the bottom of the net. They shot 11-21 as a team from long range for the game and 53 percent from the field.

“My team believed in me, they found me at the right spots at the right time,” Vaughns said.

Ten different players scored for Larranaga’s crew, including four players in double-figures. In addition to Tate and Vaughns, Pearson contributed 12 points to the effort and Hancock scored 11 coming off the bench.

“Playing together as a team you get that fire, and once you get that fire everybody just plays hard,” Vaughns said.

Overshadowed by their sharp shooting was their defensive intensity.

The Seahawks were held to just 52 points and shot just 38 percent from the field. Typically one of the top three-point shooting teams in the conference, they managed to shoot just 23 percent from three-point land. Their leading scorer and Preseason All-CAA honorable mention, Chad Tomko, was held to just four points. Nobody for the Seahawks scored in double-figures.

“We defended a very fine three-point shooting team and held them to 23 percent shooting when they came in shooting 41 percent,” Larranaga said.

This is the fourth game in a row that the Patriots held their opponent to under 40 percent from the field and under 30 percent from deep.

With the wide margin late in the second half, Larranaga was able to empty his bench. Sophomores Johnny Williams and Rashad Whack have seen little action this year, but played valuable minutes down the stretch. Even freshman walk-on Thomas Armistead, already a fan favorite, saw action with less than two minutes left.

“The crowd was unbelievably loud from about seven or eight minutes on wanting me to put in Thomas,” Larranaga said.

The Patriots will look to complete their unusual five-game homestand undefeated as they face Loyola (Md.) Wednesday night, before entering a tough stretch in which six of seven games are on the road.