The George Mason men's basketball team staged one of the biggest comebacks in NCAA history when it rallied from a 29-point deficit in the last 11:59 to defeat St. Francis College of Pennsylvania, 96-95, last Friday night in the Patriot Center. The Patriots followed that up with a 107-86 win over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Sunday to raise their mark to 6-2. It is the best start since George Mason opened the 1983-84 season at 12-1.
Friday's game will long be remembered in Fairfax. St. Francis, which led, 42-40, at half, opened up a 77-48 lead with 11:59 to play. But the Patriots full-court press forced numerous turnovers and George Mason began to covert on the offensive end. Senior guard Nate Langley led the charge, scoring 22 points in the final 8:33, including the game winning 3-pointer with 11.8 seconds to play. Langley finished with a game high 29 points while senior forward George Redd had 18 points and 10 rebounds, senior guard Contrell Scott scored 11 and junior forward Avery Carey had 10.
"Our only hope was to go with a small team," said Patriots head coach Paul Westhead. "Down 29 we changed gears and went with our smaller team. We needed speed. We pressed full-court, non-stop and went back to our old way of playing. We had a quick gap offense and got the ball to Nate in the post."
George Mason tied its season tied its season high point total in the 107-86 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The Patriots broke it open with 17-4 run early in the second half. Demetrius Somerville scored seven of his 16 points in the stretch.
Carey led the Patriots with a career high 26 points, including 10 straight over a 2:19 span with less than 10 minutes to play. Langley added 22 points and six steals, Scott had 14 points and a career best nine assists and Nik Mirich pulled down a career high 12 rebounds.
George Mason shot a season high 54.7 percent from the field, including 75.0 percent in the second half when hit 24 of 32 field goals.
"It was a game of press and run and we welcome teams that try to attack us," Westhead said. "We played more man-to-man defense than we did all season because they had so many spot up shooters. Our guys were looking for Avery, and Demetrius got us going. It makes such a difference when your shooting guard is hitting his shots."
The Patriots are off until they play at Akron next Sun., Dec. 29. George Mason opens Colonial Athletic Association play when it hosts Virginia Commonwealth on Jan. 2.
For tickets call (703) 993-3270.
Men's Basketball Contact: Jim Engelhardt (993-3269)