George Mason bows out early from A-10 tournament, falls to Saint Joe's 64-57

The Patriots second half comeback attempt came up just short

George Mason dug themselves into a pretty big hole early in their first Atlantic 10 tournament game yesterday. The offense looked flat, the shots weren’t falling, and nothing seemed to working. Despite a big push towards the end of the second half to cut the deficit to single digits, their efforts ultimately fell short. The Patriots finished the game 1-for-13 on three pointers and could not find a way to get Darius Maddox going. Freshman Baraka Okojie was all over the place hustling and scoring in the paint (22 points) but we saw little else on offense besides him and Amari Kelly. Keyshawn Hall played all of four minutes in the first half and that was it, probably the last time we see him in a Mason uniform. There’s more on his situation here from A10talk.

A sad end to what was a very promising first year for head coach Tony Skinn. They exceeded many expectations, especially with all the new faces Skinn had to bring in. But this team didn’t quit yesterday, even when it looked ugly. The future of the program looks to be in the right hands as Skinn will continue to build on this foundation that he set this season. They struggled most of the season with inconsistent shooting but their defense gave them a chance in almost every game. Have to also take into account how many close games they lost in the conference, a few more late plays had gone their way who knows how this run could have ended.