Men’s basketball (14-10, 3-8 A-10) extended their losing streak to seven, falling to local rival George Mason 90-67 (17-8, 6-6 A-10) Tuesday night at EagleBank Arena.
The Revs, who after a Jan. 15 victory against George Mason stood at 14-3 with a 3-1 conference record, are now 13th in the A-10 off the heels of their seven-game losing streak.
The Patriots had five players score in double figures and shot 56.7 percent from the field as a team. GW, on the other hand, made 26 of their 65 shot attempts, good for a 40.0 percent clip.
The Patriots dominated from the start, opening the game with three 3-pointers to take a 9-0 lead that quickly ballooned into a 21-4 run in the first six minutes. Senior guard James Bishop, who leads the team with a 17.4 points per game average, missed six of his first seven shot attempts. He went on to finish with 10 points off 4-15 shooting.
As a team, the struggles shooting the ball started early and continued throughout the night. The team shot 30.6 percent from the field in the first half, 11 for 36.
Mason trumped GW’s first-half shooting with 61.3 percent from the field in the first half, entering halftime doubling up the Revolutionaries’ score, 54-27. The Patriots went 7 for 15 from 3-point territory in the first half, good for a 46.7 percent clip. Perimeter defense has been a problem all season for the Revs, who have allowed 215 made 3-pointers this season, third most in the A-10, with opponents shooting 33.6 percent on average.
GW’s defensive struggles were evident, with the team giving up the most first-half points they have in a game this season. They have allowed 80 or more points in every game over the losing streak. The team now ranks last in the A-10 in scoring defense, allowing an average of 77.6 points per game.
Entering the second half, the story was much of the same, with George Mason opening up the half on a 12-5 run to extend their lead to 66-32.
The Revolutionaries’ shooting picked up a bit in the second half, improving their 30.6 percent shooting to 51.7 percent. With 7:42 left in the game, they went on an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 23.
The Revolutionaries were without redshirt freshman forward Darren Buchanan Jr., who was hurt in Saturday’s loss against Loyola Chicago. Buchanan is second on the team in scoring, averaging 15.5 points per game off 56.2 percent shooting.
George Mason sophomore guard Keyshawn Hall got his ninth double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 20 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.
Graduate student forward Antoine Smith Jr. led the team in scoring with 13 points, improving on his previous career high of 8, which he set last time around against the Patriots. Eight of his points came within the last 12 minutes, with GW in a deficit greater than 30. He filled in for graduate student center Babatunde Akingbola, who got into early foul trouble again, picking up 3 fouls in the first half. Akingbola didn’t play the last 10:56 of the game. He had fouled out with nine minutes remaining in the team’s Saturday loss.
The Revolutionaries will face the current A-10 leading Richmond Spiders on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in the Smith Center.
