Men’s basketball (12-7, 3-3 Atlantic 10) dropped a tight contest 69-64 to conference leader George Mason (18-1, 6-0 A-10) Monday night at EagleBank Arena. 

Junior forward Garrett Johnson led the Revolutionaries in scoring with 18 points on 8 for 12 shooting in his third start of the season, with 11 of them coming in the first five minutes, helping the team build an early lead. After surrendering that advantage and trailing by eight at halftime, the Revs regrouped in the second half and had a chance to tie the game on their final possession down three, though an inbounds pass that sailed out of bounds with 12 seconds remaining ended their comeback bid.

The loss is the Revs fifth consecutive fall to the Patriots, who clinched the A-10 runner-up title last year and currently sit at the top of the conference this year with their 6-0 A-10 play record.

Head Coach Chris Caputo said the team lost in part of their missed shots around the rim and poorly-timed turnovers. He said the turnover on the final possession was on a play the team runs all the time, but with “interchangable” personnel. 

“It’s something we practice every day.” Caputo said. “But some of the pieces were different just based on who was out there.”

Senior forward Rafael Castro finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, his third consecutive double-double. Graduate student forward Luke Hunger got his first start of the season, starting along Castro in what Caputo said was to provide a “different look” defensively. Caputo also said it was partially due to junior guard Bubu Benjiman’s injury, who is day-to-day with a minor knee injury suffered in Wednesday’s game against Davidson. 

The shooting struggles from last week’s loss to Davidson continued, with the Revs shooting just 32% from deep. Turnovers and free throws were an improvement for the Revs, as they won the turnover battle 13-12, and made eight from the line on eleven attempts. 

Johnson scored 11 of the Revs’ first 13 points as they stormed out to a 13-6 lead in the first five minutes, and the first media timeout of the game had them up 17-10. The Patriots responded with an 8-2 run in just 1:38 of play, cutting the deficit to one.

After a transition three from junior guard Trey Autry, George Mason continued their run and took a 23-22 lead with 7:42 left in the half, their first of the night. A pair of threes from Patriots forward Riley Allenspach and guard Kory Mincy put the George Mason up 33-28 in the final minutes of the half, before their physical defense gave them a 38-30 advantage into the break. 

The second half began with a Patriots 3-pointer, extending the lead to eleven — the largest of the night for either side. Autry then responded from beyond the arc on back-to-back possessions, cutting the lead to five. Minutes later, a three-pointer from Johnson completed the 11-2 Revs run and cut the Patriots margin to 43-41 with 15:57 to go. 

The Patriots’ defense remained stubborn, not allowing a Revs lead until redshirt sophomore guard Christian Jones made one of two free throws to put GW in front 61-60 with 3:40 left. Castro followed the scoring with another made free throw the next possession to extend the lead to two.

George Mason guard Jahari Long responded with a go-ahead three-pointer to put them in front 63-62 with 1:56 remaining, his only points of the night.  

The Revs had multiple chances in the final minute to reclaim the lead, but a missed layup from Castro with 1:01 left allowed George Mason to bleed the clock down to just 32 seconds, leading a pair of free throws by Allenspach to extend the Patriots lead to three.

Coming out of a Caputo timeout, Castro slashed to the rim, throwing down a quick dunk that only took three seconds off the clock. Another foul and two more free throws from Allenspach put George Mason up 67-64 with just seconds left when Caputo called a timeout. 

The side out play Caputo drew up in the timeout led to a turnover and Marshall missing the cutter on the pass. Caputo said postgame that the pass wasn’t to the right person, and Autry was visibly frustrated on the bench after the possession as he likely would’ve had an open look from three if he got the pass. 

Mason responded with an open court layup after a failed press attempt by the Revs, sealing the 69-64 win for the Patriots and remaining undefeated in A-10 play.

Next up the Revs take on Richmond on Saturday at 1 pm in the Smith Center. The Revs defeated the Spiders earlier this season 99-85 on Dec. 31.