Jai Lewis scored 19 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, while Tony Skinn set a CAA-record with nine steals to lead George Mason to a 74-63 CAA victory over Northeastern on Thursday night at the Patriot Center. For the Huskies, senior Jose Juan Barea scored 15 points, including the 2,000th of his career.
The Patriots (13-4, 7-1 CAA) raced to a 16-3 lead in the opening 6:47 of the game, thanks in part to three steals from Skinn and five boards by Lewis. The Huskies (9-7, 5-3 CAA) meanwhile, opened the game by converting just one of their first 13 shots, a three from Shawn James. George Mason built its largest lead of the game (17 points) with 4:51 to play in the first before a pair of 3-point field goals from junior Adrian Martinez and one from Aaron Davis closed the Husky gap to just eight at 31-23 with 2:17 to play. The Patriots' shot 16-for-31 in the first half, while holding Northeastern to just 9-of-29 (31 percent) to take a 10-point cushion into the break.
In the second half, the Huskies quickly cut the lead just five points after Jose Juan Barea converted a three-point play to make the score 38-33. But George Mason would open its lead back up to as many as 17 points before taking away the 11-point victory. The win, which is their sixth straight, coupled with an Old Dominion loss, gives the Patriots sole possession of first place in the CAA.
Lewis was one of three players in double-figures for George Mason, as Lamar Butler led all scorers with 20 points, while Will Thomas scored a career-high 18 points. Skinn, who came into the game as GMU's leading scorer, finished with just five points, but put forward a tremendous all-around effort as he also had seven assists and six rebounds. The Patriots dominated Northeastern in the paint, as they held a 50-20 scoring advantage down low for the game. The Huskies committed 17 turnovers, which George Mason converted into 23 points.
For Northeastern, Barea joins former Husky greats Reggie Lewis (2,709) and Pete Harris (2,167) as the only Huskies to ever record 2,000 points in a career. He also recorded the 600th assist of his career on the first of his eight assists for the night. Shawn James finished the night with 14 points and seven blocks, despite playing just seven minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. Aaron Davis converted 4-of-8 shots for 11 points and chipped in with three steals, while Adrian Martinez was 3-of-4 from 3-point range for nine points. The Huskies shot just 34.3 percent overall from the floor and were 11-of-29 from behind the arc. They outrebounded the Patriots by a margin of 40-33, as Bennet Davis matched a season-high with 10.
Northeastern returns to action Saturday when they welcome Hofstra to Matthews Arena for a CAA showdown beginning at 1 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs George Mason University
1/19/06 7 p.m. at Patriot Center, Fairfax, Va.
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VISITORS: Northeastern (9-7, 5-3 CAA)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 Davis, Bennet....... f 2-8 0-2 2-2 5 5 10 3 6 1 1 1 0 31
21 James, Shawn........ f 6-12 2-4 0-0 1 4 5 3 14 1 2 7 1 27
05 Barea, Jose Juan.... g 6-21 2-11 1-1 6 2 8 5 15 8 8 0 0 35
12 Davis, Aaron........ g 4-8 3-5 0-0 1 1 2 2 11 0 2 0 3 35
22 Kelly, Bobby........ g 1-6 1-3 0-0 0 2 2 1 3 3 3 0 1 35
04 Cyprian, Chris...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
11 Martinez, Adrian.... 3-6 3-4 0-0 3 3 6 0 9 0 0 0 0 12
33 Cole, Janon......... 1-5 0-0 2-2 1 2 3 1 4 0 1 0 0 16
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 6
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 23-67 11-29 6-7 18 22 40 16 63 13 17 8 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-29 31.0% 2nd Half: 14-38 36.8% Game: 34.3% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 5-13 38.5% 2nd Half: 6-16 37.5% Game: 37.9% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 3-3 100 % Game: 85.7% 1,1
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HOME TEAM: George Mason University (13-4, 7-1 CAA)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
34 Thomas, Will........ f 7-11 0-0 4-6 1 4 5 2 18 2 0 0 0 31
55 Lewis, Jai.......... f 9-15 0-0 1-1 5 7 12 2 19 1 3 1 1 29
01 Skinn, Tony......... g 1-7 0-2 3-4 1 5 6 1 5 7 4 0 9 36
22 Butler, Lamar....... g 7-13 2-6 4-4 1 3 4 1 20 1 1 0 2 33
42 Campbell, Folarin... g 3-8 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 2 6 3 2 0 0 36
05 Norwood, Gabe....... 1-2 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 0 1 15
40 Fleming, Chris...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 8
50 Hernandez, Sammy.... 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 3 3 0 2 0 1 1 1 12
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 29-58 2-9 14-17 8 25 33 10 74 18 11 2 14 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-31 51.6% 2nd Half: 13-27 48.1% Game: 50.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 0-3 0.0% Game: 22.2% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-3 66.7% 2nd Half: 12-14 85.7% Game: 82.4% 1,1
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Officials: Gordon, Blair, Kelly
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. George Mason University-None.
Attendance: 3312
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 26 37 - 63
George Mason University....... 36 38 - 74
Skinn (Mason): Breaks conference and school record for steals in a game
Thomasa (Mason): Career-high points
Barea (NU): Recorded 2,000 career points
Jim Larranaga (Mason): 350th career win
Points in the paint-NU 20,MASON 50. Points off turnovers-NU 8,MASON 23.
2nd chance points-NU 6,MASON 12. Fast break points-NU 9,MASON 16.
Bench points-NU 14,MASON 6. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-NU 2nd-00:42, MASON 2nd-01:12.
