MASON DOWNS DUKES WITH STRONG SECOND HALF, 65-43

Saturday, January 14

Home

TBA

James Madison University

3-11, 0-6

George Mason

12-4, 6-1

MASON

James Madison

1/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Jan. 14, 2006 — George Mason started the second half with a 12-0 run to pull away from 22-21 halftime lead and went on to post a 65-43 Colonial Athletic Association men's college basketball victory at James Madison Saturday night.

Senior guard Tony Skinn (Takoma Park, Md./Takoma Academy) led all players with 17 points while senior center Jai Lewis (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) added 15 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Senior guard Lamar Butler (Fort Washington, Md./Oxen Hill) contributed 10 points to the win.

Skinn gave the Patriots the lead for good, 22-21, when he scored on a layup with 1:02 remaining in the first half. Mason opened the game with a 9-2 lead five minutes in, however, the Dukes clawed back to claim the lead late in the half.

Freshman forward Juwann James (Jacksonville, Fla./Raines), the only JMU player to break into double-figure points with 10, pulled the Dukes to within 9-8 at 11:07 with back-to-back jumpers. A three-pointer by freshman guard Lewis Lampley (St. Petersburg, Fla./Admiral Farragut Academy) from the left corner as the shot clock wound down tied the game for the first time at 11 with 9:55 to go. It was a pair of Lampley free throws that gave JMU its first lead, 17-15 at 7:48. A James jumper with 6:02 left resulted in a 19-15 tally, and that would be the largest lead of the night for the Dukes.

A foursome of Patriots contributed to the early second-half outburst, ignited by a Butler three-pointer. The rally was capped just three minutes into the period and the Patriots worked with a 12- to 23-point lead the rest of the way.

Neither team shot well in the first 20 minutes. Mason went 8-for-27 (29.6%) and JMU was 9-for-26 (34.6%). The Patriots rarely missed in the final half, connecting on 17 of 29 (58.6%), while the Dukes' finished with the same number of field goals as in the first half, but on more attempts, 29, for only 31% marksmanship.

The first half was one of the Dukes' better of the season in terms of taking care of the basketball. JMU was charged with only five first-half turnovers, but finished the evening with 15.

Mason sophomore Will Thomas (Baltimore, Md./Mount St. Joseph) pulled in seven rebounds to help the Patriots out-rebound the Dukes 41-29. James led JMU with five.

The Patriots stretched their winning streak to five games, improving to 12-4 overall, and remained tied for first place in the CAA. Old Dominion and