Patriot Center witnesses history in 66-52 victory over Loyola (Md.)

Senior Cam Long made history in the Patriots' victory over Loyola (Md.), reaching the 1,000-point mark for his career. (John Powell)

Senior guard Cam Long drained a three-pointer just seconds into Wednesday’s game against the Greyhounds of Loyola (3-5), giving him 1,000 points for his George Mason career.

“That’s one great accomplishment that I was, not really looking forward to, but I knew was going to come eventually,” Long said.

Long, who moved into the top-30 on the all-time scoring list, finished the game with 15 points, shooting 3-4 from downtown and 5-7 overall.

The Patriots (7-2) had a comfortable lead throughout and went on to win 66-52, capping off their rare five-game homestand with a perfect record. They are now 6-0 at home for the season.

“Our fans are ridiculous,” Long said. “And just to get that standing ovation from everybody was a great feeling.”

However, six of their next seven games will be played outside of the Patriot Center.

“We would like to play the same way we play at home on the road,” junior Ryan Pearson said. “We’re not going to have our crowd out there, it’s just going to be us, and we have to come together as a team and get the job done.”

Jim Larranaga’s game plan entering the contest was to attack the paint with junior Mike Morrison. However, Morrison picked up two fouls just three minutes into the game, forcing the Patriots to look to Pearson to carry the burden in the interior.

And the handled that burden quite well.

Pearson led all scores with 18 points on 7-9 shooting from the field. He looked to score each time he got the ball down low, executing his customary spin move toward the hoop.

“I just tried to attack the basket,” he said. “I came out and just wanted to be aggressive and look for scoring opportunities.”

The Patriots outscored the Greyhounds 34-26 in the paint, despite the limited production from Morrison. Forwards Jonathan Arledge, Johnny Williams and Paris Bennett played solid minutes while Morrison remained on the pine in the first half.

Sophomore Luke Hancock also scored in double figures for the Patriots with 13, all coming in the second half. He also contributed seven assists to the effort.

“We felt like he was a better player attacking, but now that he was able to work around that and get everybody involved, it just shows how much skill level he has in his game, being able to pass and score at the same time,” Long said.

Despite the 14 point final margin, the Patriots led by 22 with nine minutes left in the contest, and allowed the Greyhounds to cut it down to around ten on several instances late in the game. But, two breakaway dunks by Hancock in the final two minutes impassioned the home crowd and cemented the victory.

“There were a couple of times I thought we got a little sloppy with the ball and gave them a chance, but our defense was up to the challenge,” Larranaga said.

Larranaga’s crew held Loyola to 40 percent shooting from the field and just 25 percent from three-point land.

“Now Andre Cornelius is taking defense very seriously, Cam and Luke on the perimeter are working very hard, Mike and Ryan inside, and then the bench really working hard to defend when they come in,” Larranaga said. “It’s given us some consistency.”

The Patriots return to action Saturday on the road at Liberty, followed by games at Duquesne and Dayton from the Atlantic-10. They don’t compete again at home until hosting conference foe Delaware Jan. 3.

“I’m a little concerned about fatigue now, we’ve played not only a number of games, but we’re at exam time,” Larranaga said. “We need to overcome that, we can’t use that as an excuse.”