Patriots to play in NIT

For the second straight season and third time in four years, the George Mason men’s basketball team is making a postseason appearance. This time, however, it’s the National Invitational Tournament that the Patriots will continue the 2008-09 campaign.

This time Mason was picked as a seventh seed in the NIT and tonight will head to No. 2 Penn State, a team that finished tied for fourth in the Big Ten and lost to No. 24 Purdue in the conference quarterfinals.

The NIT game will be broadcast at 8 p.m. on ESPNU.

It’s the fourth time the Patriots have been selected for the NIT, posting a 3-3 record in their previous appearances. Mason is 1-2 on the road in those games and went 6-9 away from the Patriot Center during the regular season. As the No. 2 seed, Mason was 2-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament held at the Richmond Coliseum.

Mason’s lone loss came against No. 1 Virginia Commonwealth in the championship game March 9, a 71-50 defeat, the Patriots’ worst of the year. The Rams drew a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will face No. 6 UCLA in the East Region to be played at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

The Patriots are 0-5 against the Nittany Lions all-time and the teams last faced one another Dec. 8, 1999 when Penn State won 67-54.

Against Penn State, Mason will have to contain at least two legitimate offensive threats: Talor Battle and Jamelle Cornley.

Battle led the Nittany Lions with a 16.8 points per game average. The sophomore guard appeared in all 33 games for Penn State, starting all but one. At 5-foot-11, 160 pounds, Battle was also the team’s leader in assists with 161 (4.9 apg).

Cornley, a 6-5 senior forward, averaged 14.3 points in 33 games and shot 42.2 percent from the floor. He led the team in rebounding with 6.2 a night.

The Patriots counter with Cam Long, a Freedom High School grad who was named to the All-CAA third team this year. Long averaged 11.6 ppg as a sophomore, leading Mason in scoring. He also had 103 assists and 35 steals along with a 4.8 rebounds per game average.

John Vaughan, Mason’s perimeter defensive specialist, scored 10.9 ppg and added 15 blocks and 25 steals. The redshirt senior’s 38.2 3-point percentage was second on the team behind Long’s 39.4 mark.

Darryl Monroe will likely be responsible for defending Cornley. Monroe, a 6-7 redshirt senior, averaged 7.8 boards a game and was the third-leading scorer for the Patriots at 10.6 ppg.

In 2004, the last time the Patriots played in the NIT, Mason defeated Tennessee and Austin Peay at the Patriot Center. Playing at Oregon, Mason lost in the quarterfinals.

Tonight is special for the Patriots for another reason as well. Three years ago to the date Mason beat Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round, Mason’s first tournament win in school history. The victory was just the beginning as the Patriots reached the Final Four that year.

NOTES: For the first time in conference history, the CAA earned five postseason bids this year.

In addition to Mason and VCU, Northeastern, Old Dominion and James Madison were also selected to continue playing this postseason.

Northeastern (18-12) was invited to the College Basketball Invitational and will travel to Wyoming (19-13) tonight, the Huskies’ first postseason appearance since 2005 when NU reached the NIT.

ODU (21-10) will make its fifth straight postseason tourney, hosting The Citadel (20-12) Thursday night in the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

JMU (19-14) hosts Mount St. Mary’s (19-13) also in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament Wednesday. The Dukes had not played in the postseason since 1994.