Mason stung by Ga. Tech

From staff and wire reports

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—A friendly rivalry between teammates Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors means trouble for opponents of No. 21 Georgia Tech.

The two big men each scored 18 points and added three blocks apiece Friday to lead the Yellow Jackets (2-1) to a 70-62 victory over George Mason on Friday in the consolation round of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

"We push each other to see who can get the most rebounds, score the most points," Favors said. "Me and Gani just try to play hard."

Georgia Tech built a 43-23 lead with 15 minutes to play. The Patriots (2-2) got no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Another late run spelled disaster for Mason. A day after falling to No. 6 Villanova in the final 30 seconds, Mason allowed No. 21 Georgia Tech to go on a 13-0 second-half run.

Coupled with a late first-half 15-0 run by Georgia Tech (2-1) and GMU couldn't recover.

Redshirt freshman Kevin Foster led the Patriots in four categories with 15 points, nine rebounds, three steals and a block in 24 minutes off the bench. Freshman Luke Hancock matched Foster's rebound total and added eight points as a reserve.

Freedom High School graduate Cam Long, after leaving Thursday's game with leg cramps, played 29 minutes and scored seven points. He was also responsible for six of Mason's 14 turnovers. He recorded three assists and a rebound.

Mason coach Jim Larranaga said he could not remember a game in which his team had been dunked on so many times.

"The two big guys just manhandled us inside," he said. "I'll have to watch the tape to see how they were able to do it so easily."

Georgia Tech tallied 12 assists and coach Paul Hewitt said his team made fewer mistakes compared with its first-round performance in a 63-59 loss Thursday to No. 18 Dayton.

"The big thing today is our point guards played with poise and got the balls in to them in the right spots," Hewitt said.

George Mason led 17-9 on a 3-pointer by Andre Cornelius with 9:54 left in the first half, but the Yellow Jackets then went on a run that featured two dunks from Favors and one from Lawal. Georgia Tech led 27-19 at halftime.

The Patriots were coming off a 69-68 loss to No. 5 Villanova 69-68 in the first round, and Larranaga said the fast pace of that game left his team tired.

"We quickly lost our focus and as a result we were not able to score at all," Larranaga said.

George Mason mounted a late rally and with less than 30 seconds to play Hancock made a layup to cut Georgia Tech's lead to 66-60. But Favors and D'Andre Bell each converted a pair of free throws to seal the victory.

Cornelius added 11 points, going 3 for 5 from behind the 3-point line. The Patriots shot more than twice as many 3-pointers as the Yellow Jackets, hitting 7 of 24.

Lawal had a game-high 14 rebounds for Georgia Tech, which, as he noted, gave him the edge over Favors for the day.

"When we're on, we really dominate," Lawal said. "When our hands are up and we're active, it's hard for anyone to score on us."

Mason will next face Indiana, which lost to Boston University on Friday night.