November 30, 2008

Win Over Ohio Gives Mason A Lifetime .500

George Mason is off to a strong start this season with a record coming into the game at 4-1. They took on Ohio's Bobcats from the MAC conference who have only played two games, both of which were victorious.

Dre Smith

FAIRFAX, VA - NOVEMBER 29: Dre Smith #1 of the George Mason Patriots shoots over Justin Orr #25 of the Ohio Bobcats during a non-conference game at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA on November 29, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)

Mason scored first and kept the lead the entire first half with their largest lead of 19. They ended the first half up by ten doing an excellent job on defense holding the Bobcats to merely 30 points. The Patriots forced 9 turnovers and did not allow Ohio any easy looks at the basket. Ohio only shot 33% compared to Mason who shot 55%. With a lead of ten Mason was still worried, knowing that last year they where up by 18 over the Bobcats at half and ended up loosing the game.

History did not repeat itself as Mason held the lead the entire game to win 74-65. The Patriots spread the wealth on scoring and five players score double figures, Smith and Long leading the team with 15 points a piece. Monroe was a dominant force on the boards rebounding 9.

Daryl Monroe

FAIRFAX, VA - NOVEMBER 29: Daryl Monroe #32 of the George Mason Patriots drives to the basket on Jerome Tillman #33 of the Ohio Bobcats during a non-conference game at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA on November 29, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)

Ohio has a new coach in with two games under his belt compared to Larranaga with 710. An interesting side note, Mason's all time record is just shy of .500 at 596-597 with their first ever game and win back in 1966 against U.S. Navy's Bethesda Hospital team. That was also the only time Mason's all time record was over .500.

The Patriots will play Liberty on the road Monday followed by their first CAA game on the road against Drexel. They return to the Patriot Center December 19th to face Radford and try to keep their undefeated home streak going.

For more photographs from the game visit our OffWing Photo gallery on flickr.

Story by Brian Collins

www.flickr.com
Off Wing Opinion's 2008-11-29 GMU Patriots vs. Ohio Bobcats (Allen Clark/www.offwing.com) photoset Off Wing Opinion's 2008-11-29 GMU Patriots vs. Ohio Bobcats (Allen Clark/www.offwing.com) photoset

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November 25, 2008

Patriots Topple Mountaineers


FAIRFAX, VA - NOVEMBER 25: John Vaughn #23 of the George Mason Patriots scores during a non-conference game with Mount Saint Mary Mountaineers at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA on November 25, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)

Coming into tonight's game the George Mason University Patriots had won their first game, then earned a dominate win over Brown in their home opener (89-52) which was the team's second largest margin of victory ever in a home opener. They then split on the road with a loss to Hampton and a win over ECU which puts the Patriots going into the game at 3-1. Mount St. Mary's came into the game at 1-1 with a win over Loyola and a tuff loss on the road against Virginia Tech 57-62.

While Mason started off with some good looks at the basket while the crowed cheered on but could not get anything to sink. Coach Larranaga subbed in some freshman youth from the bench, Andre Cornelius and Ryan Pearson, and the Patriots rallied from an eight point deficit. They could not hold the lead and went into half down two 27-29. The Patriots struggled from the three and only sank 1 of 8 compared to Mountaineers who made 3 of 5.


FAIRFAX, VA - NOVEMBER 25: Ryan Pearson #24 of the George Mason Patriots goes up against Mount Saint Mary Mountaineers defenders during a non-conference game at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA on November 25, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)

Hustle must have been the halftime talk, at the start of the second half the Patriots came out fired up and seemed unstoppable scoring 15 in the first 5 minutes. They had several steals and seemed to rebound the ball off the boards as if they where playing a JV squad. This added fuel to the already fired up fans. The Patriots pulled ahead to keep the lead with a 72-60 Victory over Mt. St. Mary's. The Patriots will take on Ohio this Saturday at home.

Story by Brian Collins

www.flickr.com
Off Wing Opinion's  photoset Off Wing Opinion's photoset

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February 24, 2008

Little Big Men Play Ball

Here are some highlights from a game that my son played in yesterday. I didn't know the team names so we will keep it as Red vs. Yellow.

For the photographers, lighting is tough in the elementary gym that I shot in. I was shooting wide open at 2.8 with a shutter speed of 1/250. I then set the camera to variable ISO, the ISO varied from about 640 - 1600. Shooting in RAW also gave the ability to brighten it up some more in post processing.


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