Part IV: George Mason takes out Richmond, falls to St. Louis in the Atlantic-10 Tournament
Our look back at the past two years of George Mason games under Kim English concludes with a pair of games in the Atlantic-10 Tournament.
George Mason entered the 2023 Atlantic 10 Tournament through uncharted waters. In Kim English’s second year at Mason the Patriots came into their matchup with Richmond on a six-game winning streak and sporting a 19-12 record. The winning streak marked the program’s highest since joining the A-10 in 2013-14, and the fifth seed Mason earned was also its best in the A-10.
George Mason was without its second-leading scorer, and best shooter, in Victor Bailey Jr. (11.8 ppg, 47% from 3) throughout the streak, and while there was hope he might return for the postseason they played their opener against Richmond without him.
The two clubs met in the regular season finale a week prior, with Davonte “Ticket” Gaines enjoying a career day — 23 points and a game-winning steal and score with two seconds remaining.
The rematch would go down to the wire, once again.
Mason came into the conference tournament owners of a 1-3 record in neutral site games. They went 0-3 at the Paradise Jam in November, before knocking off Tulane in the United Center on Dec. 17.
As it had been throughout the winning streak, defense keyed Mason’s 62-57 win over Richmond in the A-10 tourney (giving them a 3-0 sweep of the Spiders in 2023). Richmond shot 42% from the field and just 1-12 from the arc.
This one was in serious doubt late, however. Mason scored just 21 points in the first half (trailing 25-21 at the break) before rallying in the final two minutes of the game.
The Patriots pulled to within two with under two minutes to go after freshman Justyn Fernandez finished on a drive late in the shot clock. Ronald Polite Jr. then hit a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to put Mason up 56-55 — a lead they would never lose.
Key to the victory was a 13-0 run midway through the second half after Mason trailed 33-25. Ticket Gaines hit a pair of threes during this stretch, while Josh Oduro (16 points, 10 rebounds on 5-7 shooting) assisted on a couple of threes and capped the run with a bucket off a pretty spin.
Gaines and Burton had their second terrific battle in a week. Burton was limited to four points in the first half, but willed his way to the free throw line in the second (11-11 FTs on the game) in finishing with 23 points on 6-16 shooting from the field. Burton started getting to the line at will late in the game, so Mason went zone for a stretch.