Richmond, VA (Sports Network) - Jonathan Lee made the game-winning layup with
three seconds left to lift the top-seeded Northeastern Huskies to a 69-67
decision over the fourth-seeded George Mason Patriots in the semifinals of the
Colonial Athletic Association Tournament.
Lee and Joel Smith tallied 14 points each for Northeastern (20-11), which will
advance to the championship game on Monday to play the winner of the (2)
Delaware and (3) James Madison semifinal matchup. Demetrius Pollard scored 13
points in 16 minutes off the bench while Quincy Ford posted 10 points and six
boards. The Huskies trailed by as many as 24 points in the first half before
storming back to earn a spot in the title game.
Byron Allen paced George Mason (18-14) with 20 points and Mark Gujanicic
contributed 12 points and six rebounds. Vertail Vaughns, Sherrod Wright and
Jonathan Arledge scored 10 points each.
The Patriots were dominant in the early stages and jumped out to a 31-7 lead.
Northeastern gained some momentum finally and scored the final 12 points of
the period to go into halftime trailing, 31-19. George Mason shot 50 percent
from the floor during its dominant display in the opening 20 minutes.
Although the Patriots hit on 78.9 percent of their field goal tries after the
break, the regular season champs continued to chip away at the deficit.
Northeastern registered four more field goal attempts and outscored GMU, 15-4,
at the charity stripe in the second stanza to come back and take the lead with
just under six minutes left in regulation. The Patriots responded and went on
a 7-0 run to go back on top, 67-61, with just 2:54 showing on the clock. Lee
and Ford combined to sink four free-throws to make it a one possession game
again before Ford tied it up at 67 with 57 seconds left with a layup. Ford
then recorded a steal from Allen to give the Huskies possession with the shot
clock off, which set up Lee's late game heroics.
The very closely contested matchup was reflected in the rebounding battle as
GMU held a slight, 22-21, edge.
GAME NOTES:
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