Dragon Slayers! Mason Takes Down Drexel 56-51 in Philly

In a game that on most nights the Patriots (11-10, 5-5) would have lost, they hung together and pulled off a key road win at Drexel (10-10, 6-4). This win was key because it not only helped them climb up another wrung on the CAA standings ladder, but it also broke a streak of 7 straight losses on the road.

In many ways you could say that Mason played one of their most complete games of the season, even though they only shot 33% from the field on the night. Mason started the game by going down 6-0 in the first 4 minutes of the game. Eventually Mason would go down by 14 points, Drexel's largest lead of the game, with just 3:25 left in the 1st half. The Patriots were able to fight back and bring the lead down to just 8 points at halftime, even with only shooting 28% from the field.

The second half wasnt much better shooting percentage wise for Mason, as they only shot 39%, but they were able to score in bunches and finally take their first lead of the game with 7 minutues left. Mason made their run at the 16 minute mark while trailing 9 points, 30-39, as Taleia Moton scored 6 straight points to help put together a 10-0 run that brought them to within 1 point of Drexel. From this point on, the lead would shift back and forth twice, and then finally Mason would take the lead at the 7:58 mark and never look back. The Patriots were ultimately able to achieve and pull out the 56-51 victory on the road by holding the Drexel Dragons to shooting  just 1 of 13(7%) from the three point line, and only 32% from the field in the second half.

Kamile Nacickaite had 14 pts

This was a game of two halves, and a Mason team that made defensive adjustments at halftime in order to win the ballgame. Drexel was hot in the first half from the 3pt line, going 5 for 11 (45%), with Kamile Nacickaite knocking down 3 treys and Hollie Mershon hitting 2 from beyond the arc. But in the second half Mason adjusted their defensive scheme that lead to Drexel only hitting 1 out of 13 attempts from 3 point land,  and to the Dragons only shooting 25% from the field in the second half.

Mason as a team did not shoot well as team in the game, with only Taleia Moton being the only player to shoot  over 38% with at least 3 Fg attempts. But the difference in the game was that along with Moton's 28 points, 3 players off the bench were able to contribute points and rebounds. Talisha Watts, Joyous Tharrington, and Christine Weithman each recorded at least 2 points on a efficient 3 for 5 from the field combined. What was even bigger was the effect the bench had on rebounding, the the biggest impact coming from  Jouyous Tharrington who recorded 5 boards in just 13 minutes of court time. Together the bench accounted for 10 of the total 37 rebounds that Mason hauled in, and this is something Mason fans have been hoping to see from those role players.

Anyone who has watched Mason, whether on the road or at home, had to be shocked when they saw that the Patriots went 20 of 23 (87%) from the free throw line. We have stressed on this blog numerous times that Mason has lost many close games because of their sub-par free throw shooting, but they proved me wrong against Drexel. In Mason's last game against ODU, a loss by 3, the Patriots shot just 9 of 17 from the line in a heart breaker. In that game Taleia Moton and Amber Easter combined for only 6 of 13 from the line, while against Drexel those two players alone went 14 of 16 from the line. This shows: 1) The play-makers for Mason are starting to realize they need to step-up in the crunch time of the season, and 2) driving aggressive to the hoop leads to more free point at the line which allows a team to dig themselves out of large deficits and win close games. We have been preaching these two things all season, and it helped them win a big game.

With the win Mason now finds themselves in 5th place, and only 1 game out of the cluster of three teams tied for fourth place in the CAA standings. Mason will travel to Harrisonburg to battle against 3rd place James Madison (16-5, 7-3) and try to pick up a huge conference win on the last game of the current 3 game road tri[. Tip is set for 2 pm on Sunday.

Mid-Week Wrap-up: Mason Continues its Roller Coaster of a Season

GMU won their first 7 games, then lost 8 of 9, and now have won 3 of 4

Coming into last Sunday's game against Old Dominion University, Mason's roller coaster ride of a season seemed to be on the incline once again, riding a 3 game winning streak. A dominating 24 point win over the Towson Tigers(12-8) in Fairfax lead up to the critical conference match-up with the ODU Monarchs. Mason unfortunately could not finish on the road once again, and their streak of dismal performances on the road would continue.

Down in Norfolk, it was a slug fest between the Patriots and the Monarchs to see if Mason (10-10) would take the season sweep of ODU (7-14). The game was back and forth all night, with the largest lead for both sides only being as high as 8 points.  Mason held a 8 point lead with 7 minutes to go in the regulation, but saw it evaporate and would end up losing by 3 points 68-71.

This defeat is a little riddling seeing as Mason lead in many major statistical category including FG% 46.6 to 36.6, Points in Paint 36 to 20,  Bench points 7 to 3,  and Points off of Turnovers 21 to 11. But when you delve closer in the statistics, you can point out a few major things that lead to this defeat and has plagued the Patriots on the road all season long.

ODU's Tia Lewis dominated down low with 13 rebounds vs GMU

The first glaring negative statistic is the rebounding margin, 32-48 in favor of ODU, in which 17 of the 48 were offensive rebounds for the Monarchs compared to Mason's 5 total. To put Mason's rebounding woes in perspective, ODUs impact forward  Tia Lewis has 13 boards to go along with bench player Shakeva Richards collecting 5 board(3 offensive) in just 16 minutes of play. Combined starting forwards Janaa Pickard and Evelyn Lewis only had 13 rebounds for Mason, together they only equal that of Tia Lewis's total.

The Patriots were out hustled on second chance opportunities by a scoring margin of 1 to 17, a figure that is truly unacceptable and is in direct correlation with ODU's domination of the boards. If you make a stop as a team, you cant continue to give the other team additional opportunities to score. It not only demoralizes you, but it demoralized the defensive effort of your teammates as a whole.

And the third nail in the coffin for the Patriot, as in most of their close losses this season,  was abysmal free-throw shooting. Mason shot 52.9% overall from the line and 6 of 11 (54.5%) in the second half, as compared to ODU who shot 72% for the game and 13 of 14 (92.9%) in the second half. In close games, especially in the dwindling minutes as this one came down to, the win  usually will go to the team to who can convert their free-throws  attempts and ODU sunk them. Even star Taleia Moton was having a off night and went 2 of 5 from the line. Moton came into the game ranked third on the team hitting around 80% from the charity stripe. Mason currently ranks 166th in Division I basketball in FT shooting percentage, hitting just 68.7% on the season.

GMU is ranked 166th in the NCAA in FT%, hitting 68.7%

Not only is the lack of successful free throw attempts disappointing, but it is also the low total amount of attempts that Mason's receives. In the amount of free-throws attempted in the game, Mason shot  9 less, 17 to 26,  and on the season the Patriots are  trailing even worse. The total free-throw attempted on the season for Mason compared to all opponents, 319 to 378, brings a -59  margin. This shows a lack of aggressiveness in taking the ball to the hoop down low, and forcing the other team or referee to give you a call. It is important in the remaining games for Mason that they really try to improve this number and increase the opportunities at "free and easy points" at the free throw line.

Next up for the Patriots is a tough Drexel (10-9) sqaud who has performed exceedingly well in-conference this season, currently tied for 3rd place with a 6-3 CAA record. Mason will have to step its game up on the road, where on the season they have dropped their last 7 of 9  outside of the Patriot Center.

Mason is currently tied for 5th place in the league standings with ODU, but could possible move up to a 4th place tie with VCU with a big win on Thursday against Drexel.

Keys To The Game: ODU vs GMU

1) Dominate Guard Play: There is still uncertainty about the return of second leading scorer Amber Easter for Mason, so it will be important that either Taleia Moton continues to play at an All-American level(23.3ppg) or that players like Rahneeka Saunders and Christine Weithman step their game up and improve their scoring firgures to atleast double figures. If the Mason guards don't help out, I believe ODU's freshman stud Ashley Betz-White(10.3ppg) will have a big game in taking the ball inside-out with the forward Tia Lewis.


2) Inconsistent Forward Play: This will be a game when the paint is where the game will ultimately be won. The last game at UMass showed obvious weakness for Mason when at times the Minutewomen were simply passing to the block and throwing shots off the glass. It will be crucial that Mason's forwards Evelyn Lewis and Jannaa Pickard not only apply stingy defense for a full 40 minutes, but that they also exploit the opportunities they get to score. Many times against UMass the forwards missed chip shots from only a few feet around the basket. If Mason wants to put the pressure on ODU's star forward Tia Lewis, then Mason's own forwards need to be a scoring threat and try to get Lewis into situations where shes having to carry her squad on both sides of the ball.


3) The Bench Must Score: In the last game against UMass, Mason only got 5 points of production from its bench in a game that went down to the wire. ODU is a team that has only lost to Mason 1 time in 49 match-ups  the last game being a nail bite loss 67-68.  In the 4 point win over Stony Brook a few weeks ago, the bench only produced 1 point. And the only loss Mason has suffered this year, a 55-51 defeat against American at home. Taleia Moton and Amber Easter had 19 and 20 points respectively, but the bench only had a single 3 pointer all night. If the bench players like Joyous Tharrington and Cierra Strickland don't turn their minutes into scoring production, this game will no doubt be a tough one to win or secure until the final minutes.

Patriot’s Enter the Battlefield Against Minutewomen, Come Out the Victors 55 to 52 Over UMass

Tonight’s matchup between the Patriots (4-1) and UMass(1-5) would seem on paper to be another blowout, but it was anything but the sort at the Patriot Center.

The crowd inside the Patriot Center was a little taken aback because for the first time in quite a while, Amber Easter was missing from the starting lineup. It wasn’t for a lack of production, as Amber has averaged 11 points and 6 rebounds per contest this year, but for the injury she acquired during the blowout win against UNC-Ashville last week. It was in that same game though; we saw the star potential in sophomore guard Christine Weithman who dropped 22 points off the bench. Sources tell us that Easter’s injury isn’t too serious, and she is no longer in a walking boot. But the play of Weithman gave the Patriots hope of added production off the bench. In tonight’s matchup against the Minuetwoman, in which Coach Porter gave Weithman her first career start, it wasn’t the case.

The game once again fell on the shoulders of potential “CAA Player of the Year” Taleia Moton who finished the game with 32 points, 13 of 22 from the field, to go along with 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Weithman was unable to get back the stroke she had last Sunday, finishing with just 6 points on 2 of 6 from beyond the 3-point line. Despite the lack of production, she still played 29 minutes, and commanded a lot of respect from the UMass defenders who face guarded her all night. This really opened up the game for Moton, who was given a lot of 1-on-1 matchups and she easily took advantage of them.

This was a night where, to be truthful, Taleia honestly had to “Tebow” her team to victory. The bench was given time to play on the court, with 4 players getting 37 minutes. But the production was weak, with the bench only producing 5 points over that time period. Joyous Tharrington played extremely hard when she was put into the game, getting 2 rebounds and 4 points, but the Patriots will need more production from her and the rest of the bench for the team to be successful in the CAA.

Mason, though at times was getting dominated in the paint, still was able to win the rebounding battle by a margin of 39-37. And a key to winning this game was going to be creating turnovers and getting steals, and Mason won both those battles 12-14 and 8-4 respectively.

Mason is off to their hottest start of the season at 5-1, and is the best start to a campaign since 2000-2001. The Patriots will open up CAA play this Sunday at home against rival ODU. They will face one of the top forwards in the conference in Tia Lewis, who is averaging 16 ppg. If the defensive play of Evelyn Lewis and Jannaa Pickard does not improve from tonight’s performance, the Monarchs may be in for a big night scoring within the paint.

Tip is set for 2pm Sunday, at the Patriot Center. Listen here for Coach Porters post-game comments following the close win over UMass.