For one weekend in 2006, Verizon Center was a lucky charm for George Mason, which won there twice during its storybook run to the Final Four. But in two BB&T Classic games since, it’s more like a curse.
Although the Patriots didn’t get rattled Sunday, even after spotting lightly-regarded East Carolina a 14-point first-half lead, they never showed the kind of consistency and execution that had them off the best start in program history, falling short against the Pirates, 68-65.
“Since [the 2006 NCAA Tournament] we’ve played here twice and have yet to play a 40-minute game,” said Patriots head coach Jim Larranaga. George Mason lost in last year’s tournament to Bucknell.
Even after the Patriots (6-2) erased the deficit and were ahead by five with under eight minutes to play, Larranaga felt nervous. Will Thomas (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Dre Smith (16 points) both struggled with foul trouble, and Folarin Campbell (two points, three rebounds) had been benched for poor performance.
“We got the game back close, but we had mental lapses going down,” said Patriots forward Louis Birdsong (12 points, eight rebounds), who coughed up the ball on a chance to put George Mason ahead in the final minute. “We were supposed to run a play, but we’d messed it up. I think I messed it up.”
James Legan scored 18 points off the bench, and Gabe Blair finished with eight points and 12 rebounds, as the Pirates (3-4) raised their game against a George Mason team that in the last week had played so well that it was being regarded by some as “the next George Mason.”
“I guess people are trying to knock us off, trying to do what we did,” said Birdsong. “We have the targets on our back even though we’re a mid-major school.”
