Patriots to face Georgia State Saturday in CAA Tournament

Senior Cam Long, who was just named to the All-CAA First Team, and his Patriots will face Georgia State in the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament Saturday in Richmond.  (John Powell)

On Saturday, the No. 1 George Mason Patriots (25-5, 16-2) will take on the No. 9 Georgia State Panthers (12-18, 6-12) in the quarterfinal round of the CAA men’s basketball tournament. It is game five of the bracket. The game takes place at noon at the Richmond Coliseum and will be the first event of the day.

Friday afternoon, the Panthers took down the No. 8 UNC Wilmington team in a 58-52 upset. Although the Seahawks’ point guard Chad Tomko totaled 18 points, it was not enough to find a second-half lead. The Panthers’ Josh Michaeux and Eric Buckner each scored double digits and Jihad Ali pulled in nine rebounds.

Mason has downed Georgia State twice this season. After the 65-58 Patriot victory, the Panthers got rid of their head coach, Rod Barnes. The team cited that they “would not retain” him, putting Paul Graham in as the interim head coach.

Graham is in his second stint as a head coach. From 1999-2003, he went 31-79 at Washington State before being fired due to his win-loss record.

The GMU-GSU game will be broadcast on Cox Sports Channel 74 in Fairfax, Va. Elsewhere, fans can find the matchup on The Comcast Network and ESPN3.com where available.

VCU and Drexel will play at 2:30 p.m. in game 6 of the bracket.

The winners of these two games will play at noon on Sunday.