College of Charleston
George Mason
George Mason Halts Cougars' Home-Court Win Streak, 84-76
12/31/2011 3:27:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Led by a career-high 35 points from Ryan Pearson, George Mason captured a rare victory over College of Charleston, 84-76, in non-conference action held Friday night at TD Arena.
The Patriots (9-4, 1-0 CAA) halted the Cougars' (10-3, 2-0 SoCon) 15-game home-court winning streak which dated back to an 87-66 rout of crosstown rival The Citadel on Jan. 15, 2011.
Pearson shot 15-of-25 from the field to score the most points (35) by a single player against CofC this season. He also grabbed 14 rebounds and tallied the game's only double-double.
After a slow first half with only four points, senior Antwaine Wiggins (Greeneville, Tenn.) finished with a team-high 19 points and nine rebounds as he tried to rally the Cougars from an eight-point halftime deficit.
Sophomore Trent Wiedeman (Suwanee, Ga.) tallied 15 points and freshman Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) scored 12 points and brought down seven rebounds. Reserves Matt Sundberg (Kennesaw, Ga.) and Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.) each turned in 10 points, while junior Andrew Lawrence (London, England) scored seven points and dished six assists, but turned the ball over five times in the loss.
George Mason shot over 50 percent for the game (31-of-60) and made 8-of-16 three-pointers against the Cougars' zone defense. The Patriots also forced 13 turnovers and converted those into 25 points. CofC shot 26-of-60 from the field and just 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) from three-point land.
The Cougars jumped out to leads of 8-2 and 19-12 in the first half, but the Patriots responded by forcing turnovers and shooting at a high clip from the three-point line.
George Mason went on a 9-0 run to gain a 21-19 advantage at the 11:06 minute mark and never trailed by more than one for the rest of the half, eventually leading 41-30. A pair of three-pointers from Sundberg broke CofC's shooting slump, but Mason led 46-38 at halftime.
After a jumper from Wiedeman and an offensive rebound and put back from Wiggins, the Cougars cut Mason's lead to 48-44 at the 16:48 minute mark of the second half. George Mason responded with baskets from Vertrail Vaughns and Erik Copes, but another offensive put back from Wiggin closed the margin within two, 54-52, with 12:53 left on the clock.
The Patriots were resilient, going on an 8-0 run, capped by two baskets from Pearson, to go back up 62-52. Mason responded to every Cougar basket over the next six minutes, before two three-pointers from Stitt electrified the crowd and made the margin just two points at 74-72 with 3:09 remaining in regulation.
Pearson found his range on the offensive end again, quickly quieting the sell-out crowd of 5,008 with two buckets to push the lead back to 78-72 with 1:49 left. Several long-range shots from CofC fell short in the final two minutes, and the Patriots emerged victorious, 84-76.
The Cougars will ring in the New Year with a two-game Southern Conference road swing beginning at defending league champion Wofford (7-6, 1-1) on Thursday, Jan. 5 in Spartanburg, S.C. The game will be produced by the Charleston Sports Network and televised locally on MyTV Charleston and carried nationally on ESPN3 at 8 p.m. (ET).
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the 13th-straight game, CofC went with the starting five of junior Andrew Lawrence, sophomore Jordan Scott, senior Antwaine Wiggins, sophomore Trent Wiedeman and freshman Adjehi Baru (10-3).
• With the loss, George Mason claimed its first-ever victory in the all-time series with College of Charleston (1-3).
• The Patriots halted the Cougars' 15-game home-court win streak which was tied for the 11th-longest in the nation. They are only the seventh opponent to leave TD Arena with a victory since the venue first opened in 2008.
• It marked the first-ever career meeting between CofC Head Coach Bobby Cremins and George Mason Head Coach Paul Hewitt after both formerly led Georgia Tech from 1980-2000 and 2001-2011 respectively.
• CofC went 10-3 in non-conference play (excluding its ESPN BracketBusters game in February and postseason play) which is the second-best out of conference mark prior to the New Year in the Bobby Cremins Era.
• Antwaine Wiggins continues on his career-best nine-game double-digit scoring streak with a team-high 19 points against George Mason. He was one of five CofC players in double figures.
• The Cougars trailed at halftime for only the fourth time this season. It was their largest halftime deficit (-8) this year against an opponent and are now 2-2 when not leading at the half.
• Adjehi Baru scored in double figures for the third time of his career with 12 points, seven rebounds and a career-high three assists.
• George Mason's Ryan Pearson scored a game-high 35 points which was the third-highest scoring game in TD Arena history. It was third-best performance in the venue (aside from the home-hosted ESPN Charleston Classic) behind 39 points registered by CofC great Andrew Goudelock vs. Dayton in the NIT First Round on March 15, 2011 and 36 points by Wofford's Noah Dahlman vs. CofC on Feb. 26, 2009.
• CofC was called for 20 fouls in the ballgame with Wiggins fouling out for the first time of his career.
• Nine of CofC's 13 games this season have now been decided by 10 points or less including the loss to George Mason (-8).
• The Patriots scored 25 of its 84 total points off of just 13 CofC turnovers which was the second-most by an opponent this season next to 28 points off 19 miscues against Charleston Southern on Dec. 17.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Bobby Cremins
On the game ...
"It was a tough night for us. George Mason did a great job. They stymied us with their on-ball defense which affected us. We got off to a great start in the early minutes. I was really hoping we could keep it going. We looked flat and I knew George Mason was really good. I give the big kid tremendous credit. He really put on a show against us. I knew they were an experienced team coming in here. They've been where we want to and I knew they were confident. I think it's great to play a team like this. We need to play teams like George Mason and learn from it. (Ryan) Pearson had a sensational night. (George Mason Head Coach) Paul Hewitt did a great job. We went to the zone, which has bailed us out a couple of times this year, but not tonight. They were ready for the zone and they did some beautiful things and worked the ball around. The positive thing was that we cut it to two points. When we cut it to two, I thought we really had a chance. Truthfully, we didn't deserve to win. We've been lucky this year, and this time, we didn't have the luck with us."
College of Charleston Sophomore Forward Trent Wiedeman
On George Mason's Ryan Pearson's performance ...
"He played a great game. I give him a lot of credit. He is a very good player. He was scoring in every way. If you tried to go out to the perimeter, he drove past you. If you tried to back him off, he would make a three, make a turnaround or make a jump hook. It was very frustrating (to defend him tonight)."
College of Charleston Senior Forward Antwaine Wiggins
On the loss ...
"It was really frustrating. Every time we go out and get ready to play, we say, 'we don't want to lose at home.' Tonight we lost, but it's just a process of getting better. We have to learn from it and don't take any steps back. We will be ready to practice on Monday to be able to play on the road at Wofford next week."
George Mason Head Coach Paul Hewitt
On the game ...
"They (College of Charleston) are a very good team. We knew we would have to play one of our better games, if not our best game of the season, to have a chance. Ryan Pearson had a monster night with 35 points. It makes a coach look good when he throws in as many shots as he has been. We are getting better with our play execution. We held our turnovers down to 10 tonight and we are starting to play like a team."
George Mason Senior Forward Ryan Pearson
On his double-double performance and the road victory ...
"We practiced really hard leading up this game. We knew, win or lose, we were going to go out there, give it all we had and play hard. The game that I had tonight, my teammates gave me the ball in the right places and they believed in me down the stretch to close out the game for the team. I want to give thanks to the College of Charleston. They are a great ball team, and coming in, we knew it would be tough with their home-court streak. It's always tough to play in a packed house and in an environment like this. As a basketball player, you live for these big moments to step-up and try to make big shots."
