Big Green Succumb in Second Half at George Mason

Sunday, November 15

Fairfax, Va.

4:00 p.m.

Dartmouth College

(0-2)

George Mason

(2-0)

Dartmouth

George Mason

Big Green Succumb in Second Half at George Mason

11/15/2009 6:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Dartmouth

Boxscore

FAIRFAX, Va. — Sophomore David Rufful scored 13 points for the visiting Big Green, but George Mason (2-0) pulled away in the second half to defeat Dartmouth (0-2), 60-44. Both Ryan Pearson (19 points, 10 rebounds) and Mike Morrison (11 points, 10 rebounds) had double-doubles to lead the Patriots to the victory.

The Big Green trailed just 32-30 with 13:43 to play after senior Robby Pride hit a short jumper in the paint, but George Mason ripped off nine straight points in barely over a minute to push its lead to 11. Rufful drained his third of three three-pointers in the game to get the deficit back to single digits, and sophomore Jabari Trotter swished a three of his own after a Patriot bucket to get Dartmouth within seven.

That Trotter three would be the last points for the Green for more than five minutes as GMU tallied 13 straight points to put the game away.

Dartmouth jumped out to a 15-12 lead after a Rufful three-pointer — giving him 10 of the squad's 15 points — with 9:30 left in the first half. After the Patriots scored six straight points, Trotter sank a three-pointer to tie the game at 18. George Mason took the lead for good, scoring six in a row again, then led at the half by four, 28-24.

Freshman Matt LaBove hit a pair of jumpers to start the second half for the Big Green before Pride hit his jumper to get within two and Mason took over the game.

The Patriots shot just 40.4 percent for the game, but their decided edge on the boards (46-31) helped them overcome their shooting deficiencies. They also struggled at the free throw line, converting just 10-of-21 (.476), but Dartmouth was even worse at 6-of-17 (.353).

All 15 players got into the game for the Big Green, but Rufful was the only one to score in double figures. LaBove was the team's most effective rebounder with nine boards to go along with four points, not to mention three blocks.

While 10 Dartmouth players scored at least one point, George Mason got all 60 of its points from just six players, led by Pearson's 19. Luke Hancock contributed 12 off the bench.

Dartmouth travels to Greenville, S.C., next Saturday for a 7 p.m. game against the Furman Paladins of the Southern Conference.