Colonial Fans

Old Dominion 69, George Mason 65

The atmosphere was electrically charged, the competition as ferocious and spirited as anyone ever hoped it would be. The significance and sex appeal of a Saturday showdown in the Colonial Athletic Association made for a big-time sports ticket in Norfolk, Virginia. After 40 minutes of basketball, it could be said that the Colonial’s two most recognizable programs did not disappoint.

Nationally, a game in the CAA doesn’t generate a ton of attention on a crowded sports Saturday, especially not one with NFL playoff games and a college bowl game thrown in to boot. However, this past weekend at the Constant Convocation Center, the homestanding Old Dominion Monarchs and the visiting George Mason Patriots convened (the building is a convocation center for good reason, right?) in a Colonial clash that attained immediate and recognizable importance. Old Dominion, the defending regular-season and tournament champion in the CAA, held court against George Mason, the team that broke the mid-major barrier in 2006 by reaching the Final Four in Indianapolis and putting the Colonial on the map in ways other conferences (other than the Horizon League, of course) could only dream of. The awareness of the confrontation between the reigning champ and the iconic history-making squad from Washington, D.C. created a must-see event for hoopheads in the states of Virginia and Maryland plus the District of Columbia.

When this duel was done in Norfolk, the people who paid their way into the arena knew that they had just seen a maximum effort from the Colonial’s two biggest brand names.

The best part about the latest and greatest ODU-GMU battle was that the stars came out to shine. George Mason’s Cam Long threw down 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting. The impressive display is nothing less than what Mason coach Jim Larranaga expects from his senior guard. ODU prides itself on rugged defense under coach Blaine Taylor, but Long had the answers throughout this game. Moreover, the fact that Long drew so much attention enabled his teammates, Luke Hancock and Ryan Pearson, to score 13 points apiece.

The problem for Mason, though, was that Pearson’s 13 points came on 4-of-12 shooting. Indeed, in a contest that featured very accurate marksmanship from the field – GMU hit 48 percent of its shots, ODU 47 – Pearson’s 33-percent accuracy stood out like a sore thumb. When one also realizes that both teams kept their turnovers low (GMU with only 10 and ODU with a stellar total of just 7 giveaways), the primacy of shooting became that much more prominent. What’s ironic about these teams’ shooting displays on Saturday is that while they were both superb from the field, they struggled at the charity stripe. In a game that was as close as everyone expected it to be, both sides missed six foul shots despite failing to exceed 16 attempts at the line. Mason’s 8-of-14 total from the stripe will be lamented by Larranaga and the rest of the George Mason staff. Old Dominion didn’t set the world on fire with a 10-of-16 rate, but those three fewer turnovers the Monarchs committed proved to be telling in the end.

The difference between these teams proved to be granular. Such a fact only makes the prospect of a rematch later in the season on George Mason’s home floor that much more enticing.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer