Box Score

George Mason forward Ryan Pearson tallied 18 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Patriots to a 67-61 win over Northeastern in Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball action on Thursday night in Fairfax, Va. Jonathan Lee led the Huskies with 18 points and Chaisson Allen posted his fourth double-double of the season.

The Patriots (24-5, 15-2 CAA) led by five points at the half, but the Huskies (10-19, 5-12) quickly tied the game in the second. A personal 8-0 run by Cam Long gave George Mason the lead for good with about eight minutes to go.

Allen notched 14 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Huskies and Kauri Black also hit double figures with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor.

In addition to Pearson's double-double, Long added 13 points and Vertrail Vaughns scored 11 for the Patriots, who clinched the CAA regular-season title with their 14th straight win.

Allen opened the game with a pair of baskets for the Huskies and Northeastern held the Patriots off the board for nearly four minutes before Isaiah Tate hit a three that kicked off a 9-0 run for George Mason. The Patriots were up by as many as eight in the first half, taking a 25-17 lead with 2:32 to go in the opening frame, but the Huskies closed the gap to five at halftime when Lee hit a buzzer-beating three to cut the George Mason lead to 27-22 at the break.

The Huskies came right back to tie the game at the start of the second half with a trey from Allen and a short jumper from Lee to level the score at 27-27. Long hit a pair of free throws and Mike Morrison followed with a fastbreak layup to put the Patriots back up by four.

After Lee hit a jumper, Smith knocked down back-to-back threes to give the Huskies their first lead of the second half and go up, 42-37, with 12:50 to go. Five straight points from Vaughns tied the score at 42-42, but Black had the Huskies back on top with a layup. Long tied the game back up with a layup then hit back-to-back threes to give the Patriots a six-point edge with 7:45 to go and the Huskies never got closer than five points for the remainder of the contest.

The Huskies held the Patriots to 39.6 percent shooting (21-of-53), but Northeastern shot only 35.7 percent (20-of-56) from the floor. The Huskies held a 41-37 advantage in rebounding, Northeastern's most rebounds in a game this season.

The Huskies return home to Matthews Arena to close out the regular season on Saturday at 1 p.m. with a CAA game against UNC Wilmington. Northeastern's seniors will be honored before their final home game, which will air live on GoNU.tv.