Mason clinches number two seed in CAA tourney

FAIRFAX — For the regular season finale of the 2008-09 campaign
Saturday night, the George Mason men made sure to give the Patriot
Center crowd something to remember.

Cam Long dribbled out the most of the remaining 37 seconds and, as the
fans rose to their feet in celebration of a 71-59 win over the
visiting Towson Tigers, a small smile crept onto Chris Fleming’s face.
The victory was more than just a positive way to cap the season — it
also marked the first time the Patriots went unbeaten at the Patriot
Center since the arena opened for the 1985-86 season.

“I don’t rank them,” Mason coach Larranaga said of where this
accomplishment fit on his resumé. “I just love coaching here. I love
George Mason University, I love the players on our team.”

And, thanks to a 57-54 overtime upset of Northeastern by Old Dominion
yesterday evening, Mason also clinched the No. 2 seed for the upcoming
Colonial Athletic Association Tournament set to begin March 6 in
Richmond. Virginia Commonwealth earned the top spot yesterday as well,
beating Georgia State 69-41 to finish the year 14-4 in conference
play.

The Patriots (20-9, 13-5 CAA) went on a 15-4 run capped by Louis
Birdsong’s putback just before the buzzer to take the lead heading
into halftime after trailing for more than four and a half minutes.
That 35-29 lead at the break would stand up as Mason never surrendered
control in the second period and even went up by as many as 14.

Mason, once again, used a balanced scoring attack to down another CAA
foe, seeing four players reach double figures in scoring. The Patriots
have won four of their last five games, falling only to Missouri
Valley Conference No. 1 Creighton (25-6) in the ESPN BracketBusters
event.

“I told the team, one of the keys for us is balance,” Larranaga said.
“If we can get four or five guys in double figures, we can be tough at
the offensive end. And if everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to
do effort-wise on the defensive end, we can guard people.

“I don’t consider momentum,” the coach added about the recent stretch.
“What I think about is playing our best basketball. I thought we did
some good things today. I think that’s a result of our guys feeling
good about themselves.”

Fittingly on senior night it was a trio of seniors — Dre Smith, Darryl
Monroe (each with 13 points) and John Vaughan (nine) — who led Mason
past Towson (10-21, 5-13). Monroe also added a team-high nine rebounds
while Vaughan had eight. Louis Birdsong, a junior forward, chipped in
10 points and four rebounds.

Long, a 2007 Freedom grad, scored 11 points on 3 of 6 shooting from
the floor, including 1-for-3 night behind the 3-point line.

And with top reserve Ryan Pearson unavailable due to injury, the
Patriots relied on contributions from another senior, forward Chris
Fleming, to make up the difference. Fleming, an Osbourn Park graduate
making his first start of the season and fourth of his career,
converted his first field goal since last year’s postseason tournament
play and grabbed three rebounds in just 11 minutes of play. Much to
the delight of the home fans, Fleming returned to the floor with less
than a minute remaining and a 21-point lead.

“You get very, very close to your players over the course of their
careers, especially someone like Chris Fleming,” Larranaga said. “He
has sacrificed unbelievably for this program. Last year he played a
terrific CAA Tournament, helped us cut down the nets in Richmond and
get to the NCAA (Tournament) last year.”

Pearson sat out the game with his right ring and pinky fingers wrapped
to the wrist after aggravating a hand injury in practice. The nature
of the injury was unknown at the time of the game as Pearson had yet
to be examined by a doctor.

“Ryan was supposed to go yesterday, but, he didn’t. It’ll be soon,”
Larranaga said of an impending X-ray. “I’m thinking, praying and
hoping that his right hand has a deep bruise and that with a few days
rest and some treatment, that it will heal well enough for him to
play.”

With one of the top four seeds in the CAA Tournament, the Patriots
earned a bye in the first round and will play next on March 7. Mason
will face the winner of the James Madison-William & Mary tilt at 6
p.m. next Saturday.

“We’ve gone through some adversity,” Larranaga said of the Patriots’
struggles on the road, going 4-5 when playing at a conference
opponent. “Right now, we’re not playing at home or away — we’re
playing at a neutral site and we haven’t played at a neutral site this
year. I’m anxious and excited to see how we do under those
circumstances.”

“We’re feeling very confident,” Vaughan said. “We understand that if,
when we go down there, we do the things we need to do — staying down
on defense, not biting on shot fakes and sharing the ball on offense —
we’ll be there Monday night (for the final).”