East Carolina University
George Mason
Men's Basketball Falls to George Mason, 77-71
November 22, 2008 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2008
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina suffered its first loss of the season Saturday afternoon as George Mason edged the Pirates, 77-71, afternoon inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
ECU senior Sam Hinnant poured in a game-high 27 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-13 from behind the arc to lead the Pirates (3-1).
Sophomore Chad Wynn was the only other player double-figures for the Pirates with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor. Freshman Darrius Morrow chipped in with seven points and nine rebounds off the bench, while sophomore Jamar Abrams added a game-high 10 boards.
George Mason (3-1) featured four players in double-figures, led by Louis Birdsong and Andre Cornelius with 19 points each. Birdsong connected on 9-of-12 shots, while Cornelius made 7-of-12 attempts, including 5-of-7 behind the arc. Dre' Smith and Cam Long added 12 and 10 points respectively.
The Pirates scored the final six points of the first half to take a one-point advantage into the locker room, 39-38. Morrow and freshman Brock Young combined to make 3-of-4 free throws and Hinnant buried a 3-pointer with 33 seconds remaining.
The first half featured a back-and-forth matchup between the two squads. The stanza totaled eight ties and nine lead changes. The largest lead of the half was five points - 38-33 - by George Mason at the 3:25 mark.
Hinnant led all scorers at intermission with 18 points, shooting 5-of-9 from the field, including 3-for-6 from downtown.
George Mason shot an impressive 61.5 percent from behind the arc prior to halftime, making 8-of-13 attempts, while shooting 46.7 percent (14-for-30) from the field overall. ECU made 11-of-26 shots (42.3 percent) and went 5-for-12 (41.7 percent) on 3-pointers. In the second half, the Patriots came out of the locker room on a 10-4 run to take a five-point lead, 48-43, prior to the first media timeout.
After a Birdsong basket, ECU used a 6-0 spurt to cut the deficit to one, 50-49, and forced George Mason to call a timeout.
After Wynn made 1-of-2 free throws, he later dunked a pass from Young on an out-of-bounds play before James Legan drained a 3-pointer with 14:02 remaining.
The Patriots answered back with a 6-0 run of their own. Cam Long connected on 1-of-2 foul shots, followed by a 3-pointer by Cornelius and layup from Smith.
Hinnant continued his hot shooting to put the Pirates back on top in the contest. The sharpshooter connected on three 3-pointers to ignite an 11-2 rally and give ECU a 60-58 lead with 10:01 left.
The score was knotted at 66-all when the Patriots tallied six straight points to retake the lead for good, 72-66.
The Pirates got within two points, 73-71, on a Morrow layup with 19 seconds left.
John Vaughn then made both ends of a 1-and-1 to increase the Patriots' advantage to four points.
Hinnant missed a 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining and Darryl Monroe sank two free throws to put the game out of reach.
The Pirates close out their five-game home stand against Virginia Commonwealth on Tuesday, November 25, at 7 p.m.
