George Mason's hot start continues with win over Saint Louis 79-67

The Patriots are off to a 13-2 start for the second time ever in program history

George Mason continues to roll after yesterday afternoon’s 79-67 win over Saint Louis, behind Keyshawn Hall’s 22 points. The Patriots started off sluggish on offense in the first half but roared back in the second half while capitalizing off Billiken turnovers and getting to the free-throw line a ton. Another game where Mason used a second half surge to put away their opponent, something that is starting to be a recurring theme for Tony Skinn’s squad. Now 9-0 at home and 2-0 to start A-10 play, Mason looks poised to make a serious run for the conference if they continue to play at this level.

Ronald Polite had one of his better games of the season as well with 19 points and Amari Kelly chipped in 13 while helping to secure the paint. Mason’s overall toughness on the boards and inside the paint are making it tough for opponents to make runs or establish anything on offense. They can be tenacious at times and you can see it really irked Billikens’ head coach Travis Ford as the Patriots took advantage at the free-throw line. If shots aren’t falling from the outside Mason can beat you in other ways and that’s the big takeaway from games like this. Certainly doesn’t hurt also that Hall is looking like a conference POY candidate.

The Patriots dominating at home is something we haven’t seen since the Jim Larranaga days and it certainly feels good. Taking care of your conference battles on our home court makes the rest of the season a lot easier. Mason also has a more favorable A-10 schedule which will be a big factor down the stretch. They don’t have many tough road games and have home and home partners who don’t look to be battling for the top of the standings. A lot change but the forecast looks bright if they can continue to play like this.

Some worry of the team’s overall depth as Skinn has been running an eight man rotation and there’s still a lot of season left. I genuinely prefer the shorter rotation and my only worry would be about be big man Amari Kelly getting injured. But that is a big what-if situation and we have already seen this team adjust to different situations and still win games. Skinn’s team seems very adaptable so far and their success isn’t tied to any one single player.

Mason now hosts VCU on Tuesday night, who just lost their last 2 games, and then hit the road for Richmond and GW.