Defense, rebounding carry Patriots past Monarchs
The last time Old Dominion traveled to the Washington area on a frigid Saturday, the Monarchs handed undefeated Georgetown a stunning loss. Two weeks later, playing at George Mason, ODU was looking for a win with less national impact, but more significance in the Colonial Athletic Association.
But Saturday at the Patriot Center, ODU discovered this George less compliant. With sophomores Mike Morrison, Andre Cornelius, and Ryan Pearson sparking a second-half rally, Mason rolled to a 71-55 victory.
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Mason (7-6, 2-0 in the CAA) did it with rebounding, hustle, and defense, which produced several fast-break baskets, igniting the crowd of 8,629. Lefty forwards Pearson (17 points, 8 rebounds) and Morrison (15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks) had rim-rocking dunks that highlighted a 15-2 spurt midway through the second half.
The rally, culminated by a jumper by point guard Cornelius (8 points, 2 assists), turned a 41-40 deficit into a 55-43 lead with 10 minutes left. After that, ODU never got the deficit to single digits.
“You saw a lot of people swarming near the ball,” said the 6-foot-9 Morrison. “That’s what we’ve got to keep doing.”
GMU followed its worst game this season, an 80-53 loss at Radford in on Wednesday in which it was out-rebounded 47-29, with perhaps its best performance.
“I actually had a talk with the team,” said junior guard Cam Long (7 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists). “I told them that ‘This is a new year.’ We gotta start over and become more of a team.”
Preseason CAA favorite ODU (9-5, 1-1) entered as the CAA’s overwhelming leader in rebounding margin (plus 8.2 per game) and out-boarded GMU in the first half 19-14. But after intermission, the Patriots won the battle of the boards 22-11 and became just the second team this season to out-rebound the Monarchs (36-30).
“So much of the game of basketball is mental,” said GMU coach Jim Larranaga. “Our message was really, very, very simple – we have to be able compete on the backboards.”
ODU was led by 6-10 forward Gerald Lee (17 points, 3 rebounds), but no other Monarch cracked double-digits in points or had more than six boards. George Mason also became the first team this year to score 70 points on Old Dominion.
“This is uncharacteristic of our team, giving up 71 points,” said ODU guard Kent Bazemore. “That was a no-no … They scrambled harder on the boards.”
Mason also got strong play from a trio of freshman reserves. Guard Sherrod Wright (9 points, 4 rebounds) hit 3 of 5 shots in 13 minutes. Forward Johnny Williams (5 points, 4 rebounds) hit 2 of 3 shots. And guard Luke Hancock (5 points, 2 steals) contributed an uplifting 3-pointer at the first half buzzer, the ball bounding high off the rim and tumbling through the net.
In the second half, Mason’s run was keyed by steals on three straight ODU possessions, including two by Pearson. Morrison had three slams in the second half. Pearson had two, and Long contributed a pair of layups. Most of those baskets came off fast-break chances.
“I don’t want to be too much of a smart aleck, but I told our guys, they didn’t score on our defense, they scored on our offense,” said ODU coach Blaine Taylor. “If we could have scored a few more baskets in the second half, we could have got our defense set.”
Saturday begins a stretch of 15 straight games for Mason against CAA team. The Patriots know the formula it will take – defense and rebounding.
“When we rebound, we become a much better offensive team,” said Larranaga.
“Transition is about 70 percent of the game. Simply put, the more layups you can get, the better off you are. The high-scoring teams you see around the country, a Duke, a Carolina, Kansas, they convert their defense into baskets – rebound, outlet, run, force a turnover, run.”
Notes » ODU leads the series 32-16 … Mason has a quick turnaround, hosting Hofstra Monday night, while ODU travels to Towson.
