Pearson leads Patriots to NIT blowout

Mike Morrison and the Patriots took the upper hand in their game against Brown starting with the tip-off. (John Powell)

It was freshman Corey Edwards first opportunity to start as the team's point guard. While he had been splitting minutes with sophomore Bryon Allen, Coach Paul Hewitt thought Edwards brought something different to the position.

"It's real exciting," Edwards said of the start. "Coming to play in a game like that, an environment like this, it's real exciting. It's real humbling too, also. Good coaching staff, you got good players, and when we play together, we're a very good team, so I was real excited."

Specifically, Hewitt had a problem with turnovers. In the first two games of the tournament, the team's mark was around 20 turnovers. Everyone seemed to be part of the problem. The Patriots turned the ball over 11 times against Brown; three were charged to senior forward Mike Morrison and three were charged to freshman forward Erik Copes.

"We just have to get more accurate with our passes," Hewitt said. "We're underthrowing them. I still want us to keep pushing, still want us to run the floor, but certainly got to cut down on those turnovers in the open floor."

The problem is visible. Because of that, the team knows what to work on.

"We keep throwing what I call a 50-50 ball," Hewitt said. "Instead of leading the guy to the rim, we keep throing it right between the defense and the offense. Believe it or not, the one that Bryon threw out of bounds to Sherrod, I tell you, that's a start."

He referenced a play in the first half where Allen came in to the point and found the ball on a fast break. Wright was streaking down the left side and, rather than throwing the ball directly to his player, Allen let loose and forced the ball to the corner of the court, a step ahead of his teammate.

The big men responded to the elevated turnover numbers by doing their job on the blocks. Copes had eight rebounds to lead the team while six of Morrison's seven rebounds came on the defensive side. Defensive rebounds should be the focus of a point guard in Hewitt's system, and the head coach was not pleased with Edwards' 0-rebound night.

"It's not instinctive yet that all five guys go to the defensive glass," Hewitt said. "Couple of numbers I always look at is how many defensive rebounds your point guard gets. You know, Corey had zero defensive rebounds, that's not good. Bryon did better with three."

It was Pearson's second consecutive game without a double-double, only finishing with six rebounds, due in part to the limited minutes he played. He still managed to accrew 23 points in 24 minutes on 9-of-14 shooting. Without accounting for any turnovers or any fouls, he was the bright spot on the court for Mason.

"We had a lot of time to prepare," Pearson said. "We still got a lot of things to work on. We're nowhere near as complete as we can be, but we knew this coming in. We knew we had me, Mike and Andre, we're seniors and we have to step up, and we have to lead this team."

After Tuesday night's matchup, the team will go home for the holidays. It is Pearson's first time back home for Thanksgiving in a long time.

"Thanksgiving here has been great, too, going over to Miss Debbie's house and her family, they treat us like family," Pearson said. "But always going home to your family is always fun. Just going home and seeing a lot of friends."

The Patriots return to the Patriot Center on Tuesday night to take on Albany at 7:30 p.m.