Colonial Fans

Scores

Monday, January 2

George Mason 70, William & Mary 56

UNC-Wilmington 80, Delaware 75

Old Dominion 67, James Madison 61 (OT)

Northeastern 57, Towson 48

Georgia State 58, Drexel 44

VCU 80, Hofstra 63

Wednesday, January 4

Delaware 67, Hofstra 66

UNC-Wilmington 70, Northeastern 62

Drexel 60, Towson 27

William & Mary 68, James Madison 61

Georgia State 55, VCU 53

Thursday, January 5

George Mason 63, Old Dominion 54

Saturday, January 7

Northeastern 68, James Madison 56

Old Dominion 75, Towson 38

UNC-Wilmington 86, Hofstra 80

George Mason 61, Georgia State 58

Delaware 75, William & Mary 64

Sunday, January 8

VCU @ Drexel – Late Game

The Colonial Athletic Association is heating up, with familiar faces at the top of the league but some party-crashers also making noise. The standard-bearer in the league so far this season is not the Virginia Commonwealth club that ran to the Final Four in Houston last year. It’s not the Old Dominion team that won the league tournament and almost took out Final Four-bound Butler in the first round. It’s the George Mason Patriots, the program that broke ground – and broke a barrier – for the Colonial when it reached the 2006 Final Four in Indianapolis. Now coached by former Georgia Tech boss Paul Hewitt (who led Tech to the 2004 national championship game), GMU is making the same magic it produced under former coach Jim Larranaga, who ironically traded placed with Hewitt by going to the Atlantic Coast Conference to coach Miami.

George Mason won a game this past Saturday which was an unexpected battle for first place in the league. GMU faced not VCU, but Georgia State. The Panthers lost their first three games of the season in the first half of November, against Portland, Washington and Florida Atlantic. After that, they won 11 straight games, including a shocker this past Wednesday against VCU. The Panthers dug in their heels at the defensive end of the floor and contained the Rams in a dogfight. The ability to win a close game gave Georgia State a spring in its step heading into the matchup with Mason, but the Patriots – the old guard of the conference – used their home court in Fairfax, Virginia, to great effect. Georgia State still played first-rate defense, but George Mason was able to cobble together just enough sound possessions to take a three-point win. The Patriots moved to 4-0 at the top of the Colonial standings, but Georgia State earned that currency known as respect.

Elsewhere in the league, the other team that had a particularly strong week was UNC-Wilmington. The Seahawks won three league games in three outings. Only George Mason was able to match that feat.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer