Hempstead, N.Y. - A chance to beat a first-place team on the road awaits the Hofstra men's basketball team when the Pride travels to Fairfax, Va. to face George Mason University in a conference game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. from the Patriot Center. The game will also be shown on ESPN 3.

Hofstra (8-17, 3-11 in Colonial Athletic Association play) has lost four of its last five games but has played well on defense to stay competitive. The Pride has held opponents to fewer than 70 points in nine straight games. In five of those contests, a Hofstra opponent has failed to crack the 60-point mark, giving head coach Mo Cassara's team hope in going up a Mason squad that is 19-6 and 11-2 and tied with VCU and Drexel for first place.

The Pride will be looking for a split in the season series after Mason came out of Hempstead with a 55-50 victory on Jan. 25. Hofstra produced one its best defensive halves of the season in that game, holding the Patriots to 17.4 percent shooting from the field. The Patriots were limited to 4-of-23 on field goals as Hofstra allowed just 19 points heading into halftime.

Hofstra forced Mason to miss 17 of their first 20 field goal attempts. To that point, the 19 points marked the lowest single-half output for a Hofstra opponent this season before the Pride limited Towson to 18 first-half points in a win over the Tigers last week.

But the Patriots went on to win thanks to Sherrod Wright's 15 points off the bench. Mason's only conference losses have come on the road to preseason-favorite Drexel and Delaware. On offense, the Patriots can boast one of the league's best scoring threats in Ryan Pearson. The senior forward is averaging 17.8 points, though the Pride held him to just seven points on 2-of-6 shooting in the first meeting. Pearson is a double-double threat every game, averaging 8.8 rebounds.

Mason's strength is its frontcourt as fellow senior forward Mike Morrison is averaging 9.6 points and seven rebounds. Overall, the Patriots are out-scoring opponents by 7.3 points.

Senior guard Mike Moore found success against Mason last month with an 18-point; six-assist performance on 7-of-12 shooting. Moore, whose 19.4 scoring average leads the CAA, and fellow senior Nathaniel Lester continue to be the Pride's offensive catalysts.

Lester is coming off his fourth double-double in Hofstra's home loss to Georgia State on Saturday. He scored 14 points and hauled in 10 rebounds against an athletic Panthers squad. Moore and Lester have combined for 834 of Hofstra's 1,610 points this season, comprising more than 50 percent of the team's total point production.

Lester became the 30th player in Hofstra history to score 1,000 career points for the program versus Towson last week. Despite only being in his second season with the Pride, Moore can become the 31st member as he will enter the Patriot Center with 975 points for Hofstra. The shooting guard has 1,488 career points, which includes his first two seasons playing for Fordham.

Hofstra has lost the last three times playing at George Mason, with the previous victory in Fairfax coming during the 2006-07 season.  Using a more high-pressure attack could help fight that recent history. Despite losing to Georgia State, Cassara said he saw positive signs as the Pride won the turnover battle, 17-10, and scored 14 points off those turnovers. Senior guard Dwan McMillan racked up six assists against the Panthers. That marked the Brooklyn, N.Y. native's 10th game this season of five-or-more assists.

Freshman forward Moussa Kone has also become a contributor off the bench for the Pride, scoring five points, posting three rebounds and setting a career high with two steals against the Panthers.

Following the Mason game, Hofstra will hit the road again with the short drive to Philadelphia to take on Drexel on Saturday at 4 p.m. for the second game in four days against a team currently tied for the CAA's top spot.