Sherrod Wright scored 22 points off the bench and George Mason’s reserves outscored Towson’s bench 43-1 in a 72-60 win over Towson on Saturday.
George Mason (15-5, 7-1 Colonial Athletic Association) led by as many as 18, but had to weather a late comeback attempt by the Tigers (0-20, 0-8) who trailed by five with fewer than two minutes to play.
However, Wright hit a key 3-pointer with 1:35 left to play and put the Patriots ahead by eight points at 66-58 and sealed their eighth win in the last nine games.
Ryan Pearson, the Patriots leading scorer on the year, was held to just nine points. Ten different players scored in a balanced offensive effort from the league’s highest-scoring team.
George Mason shot 25 of 55 (45.5 percent) for the game, and 6 of 13 from behind the arc (46.2 percent).
Wright went 7 of 12 from the field, 6 of 6 from the foul line and made both his three-point attempts.
Towson dominated the boards 45-34, including 23 offensive rebounds, but shot just 23 of 62 (37.1 percent) from the field and 11 of 21 (52.4 percent) at the foul line to cost them a chance at ending the NCAA’s longest current losing streak. The Tigers have now lost 39 straight dating back to the 2010-11 season.
The Tigers gave the ball away 11 times in the first half and George Mason shot 16 of 30 (53.3 percent) and 5 of 8 (62.5 percent) from behind the arc to capitalize on the miscues and open up a 44-27 lead at halftime.
Robert Nwankwo led the Tigers with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Towson has not won a league game since 2010.
Note: Actor Bill Murray was in attendance at the Patriot Center. His son, Luke is an assistant coach for Towson.
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