Nov. 13, 2007
Final Stats
Contact: Brian McCann
FAIRFAX, Va. - Cedric Jackson scored a career-high 20 points, but poor shooting in the second half and a patient Patriot offensive attack led to a 56-47 loss at George Mason on Tuesday night.
The loss drops CSU to 1-1 on the young season while George Mason improves to 2-0.
Joe Davis added 13 points for CSU while John Vaughan and Will Thomas shared scoring honors for the Patriots with 18 points each.
"I said going into the season that the first five games are going to be difficult for us and that we were going to learn an awful lot about our team," CSU head coach Gary Waters said. "We are a young team that is still getting to know each other on the court which means that we will have periods where we struggle offensively.
"What I am happy about tonight is that we defended hard all night and we did a good job. If we continue to play hard defensively, then good things will happen for this team."
The two halves of the game were different as night and day as both teams executed well offensively and shot a high percentage in the first half while defense proved to be the difference in the second half.
CSU shot .500 from the field in the first half (11-22), including a four-for-five effort from three-point, while GMU was 11-for-23 (.478), making four of its nine treys.
The second half saw neither team shoot 30-percent. CSU could manage just .276 shooting (8-29), going one-for-eight from three-point while the Patriots shot. 263 (5-19), making just one of its seven treys.
The difference proved to be rebounding and foul shooting as the Patriots held a decisive 36-28 edge on the boards, including 11 offensive rebounds. George Mason also attempted 28 free throws, making 19, while the Vikings went to the line just five times, making four.
Jackson sparked the CSU offense all night long, making seven of his 14 field goal attempts, including three three-pointers, while also adding five rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Thomas hurt the Vikings with his inside game. He made seven of his nine field goal attempts and finished with a game-high eight rebounds. Vaughan on the other hand, penetrated to the basket to put his points on the board, making five field goals, including two from three-point while going a perfect six-for-six from the line.
After George Mason jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead, CSU countered with a 13-3 run that gave the Vikings a 16-10 lead with 10:09 left.
Jackson keyed the first half run, scoring on a driving layup to start the run, feeding Kevin Francis for a three-pointer on the next possession and adding a trey of his own two possessions later.
The CSU offense struggled after that, allowing the Patriots to tie the game at 16-16 with 9:14 left. The run kept going for GMU however as they used good three-pointing shooting to extend the run to 19-3 over a 6:15 span to build a 29-19 lead with 4:36 left.
Waters countered with a quicker lineup utilizing three guards (Jackson, Davis & Watson) with Bullock at power forward and CSU responded by playing good half court defense to slow down the Patriot attack.
At the other end of the court, Joe Davis caught fire, catching three consecutive back door passes - two from Jackson and the third from Bullock - and converting them into easy lay-ups to bring CSU to within 29-25 with 1:07 left.
When Jackson connected on a three-pointer from the top of the key with seven seconds left, CSU had climbed back to within 31-28 at the intermission.
Both teams played strong defense to open the second half and CSU had several chances to take the lead after Jackson pulled the Vikings to within 37-36 on a coast-to-coast layup with 11:12 left after stripping Vaughan of the ball down low.
GMU ran off six straight points, including a three-pointer by Vlad Moldoveanu, to extend the lead to 43-36 with 8:48 left.
The Vikings would come no closer than five the rest of the way (48-43, 3:46) as GMU made its foul shots down the stretch, scoring its final eight points from the foul line.
The Vikings continue their season-opening five-game in 10 days road swing when CSU travels to Daytona Beach, Fla. to play Georgia Southern on Friday (Nov. 16), Florida State on Saturday (Nov. 17) and Florida Atlantic on Sunday (Nov. 18) as part of the Glenn Wilkes Classic.
