Patriots get by Georgia State on second half surge, 68-45

Senior Cam Long led the way for the Patriots with 15 points in their win over Georgia State in the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament. They will face VCU in the semifinals Sunday at noon.  (John Powell)

After a dismal start to the game, the George Mason Patriots (26-5, 17-2) broke out in the second half to beat the Georgia State Panthers (12-19, 6-17) by a final score of 68-45 in the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament in Richmond Saturday afternoon. 

Neither team could get away to open the game until the Panthers started a run at the 13-minute mark. It took Georgia State three minutes to find a 10-point lead, helped by four points from junior forward Brandon McGee.

“Well actually, we’ve been coming out with a slow start the last couple of games,” said Cam Long, Mason’s senior guard who has acted as the de facto leader of the team.

Senior guard Isaiah Tate kept it as close as he could. His five first-half points on 2-of-3 shooting pulled the bench’s total to seven. His was one of the stronger shooting marks for Mason. The Patriots only shot 41.7 percent to the Panther’s mark of 60.0 in the first half.

“They were definitely big,” said Tate of his first half shots.

But the Patriots stayed confident. In less than three minutes, junior point guard Andre Cornelius dropped two three-pointers as part of a successful effort to cut the Panthers’ lead to one point. Cornelius finished with 12.

“I definitely want to say the momentum definitely came from Andre Cornelius, knocking down big threes,” Long said. “It gave us the motivation. It really helped us out.”

With a layup by junior forward Ryan Pearson, Mason took a two-point lead into halftime. Pearson finished with 11 points, relatively lower than his season average, but his shots came at key times.

The energy was a bit better in the second half for the Patriots. A three-pointer from Long gave the team a five-point lead to build on.

“Senior leadership” was the focus of Jim Larranaga’s positivity. “Those two guys [Long and Tate] did a fantastic job of keeping the team poised and focused on what we needed to do.”

The starters got some needed rest in the second half, but the bench did not let the lead get away. Long was limited to 13 minutes and Cornelius only played for 10. Tate led the bench with 14 minutes, freshman guard Vertrail Vaughns had eight on his stat sheet and freshman forward Paris Bennett totaled six minutes in the second half alone.

The differential was practically unchanged for six minutes until three free throws by Vaughns started a run at the 14-minute mark. Nearly everyone got in on the action as the Patriots went on an 18-0 run that took 7:29 minutes. Eleven of Long’s 14 points came in the second half.

Mason’s unbreakable defense was the key for the run.

“Defense is what it was,” Long said. “We pick up the intensity level on the defensive side […] When we are capable of getting stops and rebounding the ball, we are able to run and get assists.”

Junior forward Mike Morrison has played physically this season, but the physicality culminated in Saturday’s game. He only put up five points and took five boards, but with hands in, and sometimes on, his face, he stayed cool and collected.

“I would say the message to our whole team, the last thing we say when we’re talking about ourselves is, we use the expression ‘Poise down the stretch,’” Larranaga said. “Mike Morrison and the other guys I thought really handled themselves well.”

But the Panthers, especially junior forwards Eric Buckner and Josh Micheaux, matched against Morrison and went after him.

“I think the term was ‘Take him out’ when we got that fast break and Mike was going for the dunk,” said Larranaga of one particular play. “Someone yelled to the defender ‘Take him out,’ and Mike was like ‘Uh oh, here it comes.’”

The Panthers needed a foul by sophomore forward Johnny Williams and a made free throw at the 6:59 to break the Patriot run.

Tate led the bench with eight points on the afternoon, and Vaughn’s shooting found seven. Bennett and Williams made second-half jumpers to give them two points each and Bryon Allen made a free throw to add a point to his stat sheet. Even freshman walk-on forward Thomas Armistead went in the game.

It was, to say the least, a team victory.

“We know [VCU is] a good team. We know Drexel is a good team. But we’re going to focus on this win right now,” Long said about preparing for Sunday’s game.

VCU did win, 62-60, against Drexel in the second game on Saturday. As a reward, they play Mason in the semifinal round of the tournament.

The Patriots will take on the Rams at noon. The game will be broadcast on The Comcast Network and ESPN3.com where available.