Fairfax, Va. — In sports, there’s no place like home. After a shaky start to their 2024 season, the George Mason University men’s basketball team returned home for two games, where they defeated Coppin State on November 20, before dominating Division III Ferrum, 100-55, in an exhibition game on November 23 at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax.
“We’re heading in the right direction, and I was happy for these guys,” George Mason head coach Tony Skinn said. “As a former basketball player myself, these games are hard to get up for, but I’m happy with this win. We get a chance to get a day off and regroup next week.”
It was the first time George Mason reached the century mark in scoring since a January 3, 2009 win against UNC Wilmington. The Patriots shot 52.9% on their field goal attempts and made a season-high 13 three-point shots.
Senior guard Woody Newton led the Patriots in scoring with 26. It was a well-rounded effort on offense for George Mason, as 12 players scored at least two points, and five players scored over 10.
“There’s some things we still need to work on, but overall it’s a great team performance,” Newton said. “We gotta get better with offensive rebounding, but we shared the ball, we defended, and we executed when we had to run plays.”
On the defensive end, George Mason limited Ferrum to under 80 points for the first time this season. The Panthers only shot 32.2% from the field and 25% from three.
“It’s a small sample size of what I think we can be defensively,” Skinn said. “It was unconventional, the guys that they had out there. I think the biggest thing for us was fixing our glass issues. It’s not the standard here for us to give up 16, 17, 18 offensive rebounds.”
The Patriots won the tip-off thanks to senior forward Jalen Haynes, and graduate Zach Anderson raced down the floor to open up the scoring while drawing a foul.
By the first media timeout, George Mason used their height advantage to take a 12-6 lead. The Patriots scored all 12 points inside the paint with Haynes scoring two baskets after second-chance rebounds.
That inside scoring marked the whole first half for George Mason. They only shot 2-12 from three-point range in the first frame.
“At halftime, coach Skinn came in and said we have a great young team,” Newton said. “We just got to take the right ones. We got great shooting, so if we get the right ones, we’re gonna knock them down.”
Ferrum hung with the Patriots early as junior forward Alfredo Abel-Rivera—the Panthers leading scorer at 19.8 points per game—had five points on very contested shots.
Two layups by George Mason junior guard Brayden O’Connor highlighted a 7-0 run that started to put the game out of reach for Ferrum. O’Connor had an efficient afternoon, scoring 14 points on 6-7 shooting from the field plus 5 assists.
After scoring 21 points against Coppin State, George Mason junior forward Giovanni Emejuru bullied his way inside before halftime, making all six of his free throws while adding a layup, extending the George Mason lead to 44-27 going into the half.
Despite shooting 2-for-12 from three in the first half, the threes finally started to fall in the second half, knocking down 11 threes on just 23 attempts.
Two quick baskets by Haynes coming out of halftime made Ferrum head coach Patrick Corrigan call a timeout. The game plan changes didn’t help the Panthers, as Newton and O’Connor both knocked down threes out of the timeout.
Four minutes later, Ferrum called another timeout. This time, Johnson took the spotlight as he scored a quick 8 points and added an assist on a Newton three-point jumper.
“I feel like we got our aura back,” Newton said. “We’re starting to build our confidence back up. Those are two tough losses that we had early on, but we would rather have our ups and down right now and figure them out instead of later on down the line.”
With a steady lead, Skinn reached into his bench to end the game. Freshman forward Stas Sivka scored an easy layup for the first points in his college career.
Freshman guard T.J. Prosise knocked down a jumper for his first points this season, and sophomore guard Ben Woodward (John Champe/2022) made an immediate impact, knocking down two three-pointers in less than a minute lifting George Mason over the 100-point mark.
“Those guys are just as important for us,” Skinn said. “Ben is actually one of our better shooters. We should have subbed him in a little bit earlier. I was chasing the 100, and I knew the person that was going to get us to that 100 was Ben.”
George Mason (0-0 Atlantic-10, 4-3) will look to carry this momentum into their trip down to James Madison on November 29. Meanwhile, Ferrum (0-0 ODAC, 4-0) will look to use their experience playing a Division I team when they travel down to Asheville, North Carolina on November 27 to play Warren Wilson.
“These two games, these two bow out wins, helped us build our confidence,” Newton said. “It’s going to help us move forward down the line.”