Mason’s Road Struggles Continue after Loss

By Broadside Correspondent Ryan Dempsey

On Saturday, the men’s basketball team (16-6, 9-3) traveled to Harrisonburg, Va. to play the James Madison University Dukes (15-9, 7-5).

With Mason losing their last three road games, the Patriots hoped to remain one game behind the conference leader, Northeastern University.

Unfortunately, the Patriots came away short of the win, and lost their fourth consecutive away game, 68-66.

Mason scored the game’s first six points, but the Dukes responded with an 8-2 run of their own.

The first half remained close throughout, with the Dukes walking into the locker room with a 30-26 lead.

In the first five minutes of the second half, the Dukes stretched the lead to 14 points. Throughout the second half, Mason fought back to cut the JMU lead.

With less than six minutes left in the game, freshman guard Andre Cornelius stole the ball, went to the basket on the break, and put the Patriots ahead 58-57.

On the next play, senior forward Darryl Monroe scored on a turnaround jumper to make it 60-57, capping a 13-0 run.

Unfortunately, the Patriots were unable to hold on to the lead. JMU capitalized on a quick steal and after a few rounds of foul shots, the game was over.

Senior guard John Vaughan led Mason with 19 points, including three 3-pointers. Monroe was the only other Patriot to score in double-digits with 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting before fouling out.

Sophomore guard Cam Long also provided great assistance throughout with eight points, six rebounds, and three steals.

JMU starting forward Kyle Swanston had a sensational offensive performance with 19 points, including 5-for-11 from behind the arc.

Dukes guard Ben Louis contributed from the bench with five rebounds, five assists, and four steals.

The Dukes scored nine 3-pointers, making 45 percent of their shots behind the arc, and shot 75 percent from the free-throw line.

The Patriots shot only 29.4 percent from 3-point range, and converted only 57.9 percent at the line.

The last time the Patriots had lost to JMU was exactly five years ago. The game ended a 10-game winning streak in the Mason-JMU series.

Since losing their first conference game at Northeastern last month, the Patriots have struggled to win on the road.

With Northeastern winning, the Patriots currently find themselves trailing by two games.

The Patriots will try to get out of a four-game road-slump as they travel to the University of Delaware this Thursday to take on the Blue Hens.

At the end of the week, the Patriots look to avenge their loss against the top-ranked Northeastern Huskies for Mason’s homecoming game.