Fairfax, VA - Freshman guard Chaz Williams (Brooklyn, NY) had a career-high 20 points on 8-9 shooting, and freshman forward Halil Kanacevic (Staten Island, NY) added career highs with 16 points and 12 rebounds, but George Mason used a late push to escape with a 67-63 win over Hofstra on Monday evening at the Patriot Center.
With the win, George Mason improves to 8-6 overall and 3-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association, making it the only undefeated team left in conference play through three games. Hofstra falls to 8-7 overall and 1-2 in the CAA with the loss.
Sophomore forward Ryan Pearson had 16 of his 17 points in the second half to help the Patriots prevail in a nail-biter, leading four players in double figures.
Hofstra led by six points with 7:52 remaining on a fast-break lay-up from Williams, but George Mason scored the next four points to pull back within 50-48. A Kanacevic 15-foot jumper gave Hofstra a 52-48 lead, but Pearson hit back-to-back lay-ups to tie the score at 52-52 with 5:08 remaining.
A Kanacevic foul shot gave the Pride its final lead at 53-52 with 4:31 to go, but sophomore guard Andre Cornelius hit a three-pointer coming out of the final media timeout to put the Patriots in front 55-53. Kanacevic tied the game with two foul shots, but Cam Long and Pearson each hit two foul shots on the next two George Mason possessions to give the Patriots a 59-55 lead with 1:57 left.
Junior guard Charles Jenkins (Queens, NY) found Kanacevic on the baseline for a reverse lay-up to cut the lead to two with 1:27 left, but Pearson hit a spinning bank shot in the paint to push the lead back to four. Jenkins found Kanacevic again for a lay-up with 51 seconds to go to make the score 61-59, but freshman Luke Hancock made an up-and-under lay-up with 22 seconds left. Jenkins drove to the basket to get the lead down to two with 10 seconds left, but Cornelius iced the game with two foul shots with 7.6 seconds to go.
Jenkins finished with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists for Hofstra. Cornelius had 13 points for George Mason, while Long added 12 and Hancock chipped in with 11, all in the second half. Hofstra held a 41-30 edge on the boards, led by 12 from Kanacevic, which tied his career high set against Kansas on opening day. Kanacevic's 16 points eclipsed his previous high of 12, also set against Kansas, while Williams' 20 points broke his personal best of 14 points, set against St. John's and matched against Davidson at the Holiday Festival.
Hofstra will next be in action when it turns around quickly to face Towson back home at the Mack Sports Complex on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Tickets may be purchased by calling the box office at (516) HOF-TIXX (463-8499) or on the internet at GoHofstra.com.
