Hofstra falls to George Mason
Hofstra University's Mike Moore, left, looks to pass around George Mason University's Vertrail Vaughns in the first half. (Jan. 25, 2012) Credit: James Escher
The scenario was all too familiar Wednesday night for the Pride: A close game against a superior opponent where season records might suggest they had no business being in it.
But the result was all too familiar as well: A valiant effort that ended in a close loss as Hofstra fell to first place George Mason, 55-50, at Hofstra University in the Colonial Athletic Association
"We have to keep working," Hofstra coach Mo Cassara said. "Obviously we're frustrated because we're in every game, especially against the top part of the league. But basketball is a long season."
With Hofstra leading by two with less than two minutes remaining, George Mason's Sherrod Wright, who had 15 points, got Nathaniel Lester in the air and converted the layup plus the foul for a three-point play than gave George Mason a 51-50 lead with 1:46 remaining. After Lester missed a corner three with 38 seconds remaining, Corey Edwards hit two free throws for a three- point lead.
With 27 seconds to go, Mike Moore drove the lane and found Steve Mejia open in the corner, but he couldn't knock down the three.
After a dismal shooting performance in the first half, George Mason opened the third quarter with three three-pointers, two by Andre Cornelius and one by Ryan Pearson, to open a 28-22 lead. The lead swelled to 36-28 before a layup by Lester and consecutive threes by Moore and David Imes tied the game with 8:15 to go.
From there it was a back and forth affair, with Imes giving Hofstra its final lead with a baseline jumper to make it 50-48 with 2:13 remaining. Moore led Hofstra with 18 points and six assists and Lester added 12 points.
Hofstra (7-15, 1-9) held George Mason (17-5, 9-1), the top scoring team in the CAA, scoreless for the first 5:15 of the game. The Pride opened a 9-0 lead after consecutive steals by Dwan McMillan led to a pull-up jumper by Moore followed by an easy layup for Lester.
Hofstra held George Mason to just four first half field goals on 17.4 percent shooting.
The Pride was coming off a two-game road trip in which they collected their first conference win, a 71-69 win over James Madison, and had an encouraging performance in a 61-49 loss over second-place VCU, a team coming off a Final Four appearance last season.
"We haven't been able to make enough plays to finish some of these games off," Cassara said. "But we're better than our record shows. It's been an incredible amount of close games, we just haven't been able to get them to bounce our way."
