Patriots Stifle Tulane During 62-56 Triumph in Chicago

Patriots Stifle Tulane During 62-56 Triumph in Chicago | George Mason University

By Press release submission

Dec 22, 2022

Patriots Stifle Tulane During 62-56 Triumph in Chicago

The George Mason University men's basketball team (7-4) put together a tremendous defensive effort during a 62-56 victory over Tulane (6-4) Saturday afternoon at Chicago's famed United Center.

Mason held Tulane's top-50 offense to a paltry 33.9 percent (21-62) for the game, including just 11.1 percent (2-18) from beyond the arc. Tulane's top-30 2pt FG offense (.562) also managed just 43.2 percent against the Patriots' stout defense.

The victory marked Mason's fifth straight and came over a top-100 program in one of the sport's most famous arenas.

Graduate guard Victor Bailey Jr. paced the Patriots with an efficient 19 points on 12 shots, including a 5-of-9 mark from 3pt range. He made four of those triples in the decisive second half in which the Patriots held a +8 (40-32) scoring advantage.

Senior Josh Oduro added 12 points, six rebounds and two blocks, with nine of those points coming in the final six minutes of action. With his seventh point of the contest, he became the 40th player in program history to score 1,000 career points in a Mason uniform.

Graduate guard DeVon Cooper chipped in eight points and dished out a career-best seven assists, while junior Ronald Polite III added five assists in 31 minutes.

Polite also helped hold Tulane leading scorer Jalen Cook (20.8 ppg) to just 11 points on 20 shots (4-20 FG).

Mason dished out a season-best 20 assists on the day and held sizable advantages in rebounding (40-31) and fast break points (20-13).

Mason jumped out to an early 12-6 advantage, but a cold stretch offensively allowed the Green Wave to come back and tie it up at 12-12 at the 9:55 mark of the first half. Tulane used a 10-0 spurt to go up 24-16, but Mason closed the opening stanza on a 6-0 run. Sparked by two Malik Henry buckets, that sequence allowed the Patriots to cut the Tulane lead to two (24-22) at the break.

Tulane extended its edge to five (30-25) early in the second half, but Mason rocketed back with a 7-0 run to take a 32-30 lead at the 14:55 mark of the second half.

After a back and forth 10 minutes of play, Tulane built a four-point edge (48-44) with 5:59 left, but Mason rattled off six straight to take a 50-48 lead with 4:25 to go.

With the Patriots ahead 54-52 at the 2:20 mark, that's where Mason dug in its heels defensively and put the game away. Mason allowed just one field goal over the next 2+ minutes and got two huge 3-pointers on the other end from Oduro and senior Davonte Gaines to secure the victory.

George Mason now heads south within the Commonwealth to renew a historic rivalry with Old Dominion on Wednesday (Dec. 21). Tip-off between the Patriots and Monarchs is set for 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.