Victory Stolen Away From UNCW
Submitted by Cape Fear Sport... on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 8:10am.READ MORE: 
WILMINGTON, N.C. – Senior guard John Vaughan’s reverse layup with four seconds remaining lifted George Mason over UNC Wilmington, 53-52, in the final regular season home men’s basketball game for the Seahawks Wednesday night at Trask Coliseum.
GMU won for the third time in its last four outings to improve to 19-9 overall and 12-5 in the CAA. UNCW dropped its fifth in six games to fall to 7-23 and 3-14.
Senior guard Dre Smith was the only GMU player in double figures with 13 points. Vaughan added eight points and a career-high 11 boards for the Patriots, who remained in a tie for second place in the CAA standings with Northeastern.
Junior guard Montez Downey and sophomore guard Chad Tomko poured in 17 points apiece for the Seahawks, who shot 32.1 percent on the night. UNCW went 17-for-53 from the floor, but managed just 8-for-18 at the charity stripe.
UNCW, which made just one of its first 15 shots, fell behind early before getting within striking distance at intermission. GMU was still clinging to a 31-29 advantage until Long keyed a 14-0 run that gave the Patriots some separation.
After Darryl Felder converted the second of two free throws for UNCW with 13:37 left to chop the lead to 31-29, Long fired in a pair of long 3-pointers from the right wing midway through the second half and reserve forward Michael Morrison added six points in a 14-0 spurt for GMU.
UNCW, behind Downey and Tomko, answered with 11 straight points to close to 45-40 at 5:44. Downey knocked down a pair of three balls and Tomko’s long bomb from the left wing pulled the Seahawks within five points. The spurt was part of a 17-4 run as UNCW crept within 49-46 with two minutes remaining.
Louis Birdsong’s dunk put GMU ahead, 51-46, with 1:30 left, but Tomko hit another triple to cut the lead to 51-49 just 20 seconds later. After the Patriots missed a field goal attempt, Downey gave the Seahawks only their second lead of the game, 52-51, when he sank a trifecta from the top of the key, setting up Vaughan’s game-winner.
The Patriots took advantage of UNCW’s cold shooting to an early 12-point lead before the Seahawks climbed back into it at intermission. Ryan Pearson capped a six-point mini-run with a bucket in the lane to put the Patriots up, 13-4, midway through the first half. The lead ballooned to 21-9 with 3:43 left in the opening period when reserve guard Isaiah Tate drained a jumper along the left baseline.
UNCW scored the final 10 points of the first half to narrow the deficit to 21-19 at the break. Downey got things going with a triple from the top of the key at 2:52 and then connected on both ends of a bonus situation with 11 seconds showing to slice the lead to 21-19. UNCW’s Johnny Wolf had an opportunity to knot the score at halftime, but missed the front end of a one-and-one with under a second left.
The Seahawks play their regular season finale on Saturday with a 4 p.m. test at Hofstra. The Patriots return home for Senior Night with an 8 p.m. matchup against Towson.
-Courtesy UNCW Sports Information Dept.
Photo: Calvin McGowan
-- Jesse Jones, CAPE FEAR SPORTS REPORT
»
