(14-8, 6-5) at George Mason (15-6, 8-3)Mason's recent run of tough games in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) continues tonight as they host the Pride of Hofstra. It's been a rough couple weeks for the Patriots. Mason was flying high two weeks ago at 7-0 in the conference but came crashing down with tough road losses to conference heavyweights Virgina Commonwealth (VCU) and Northeastern. Another tough road loss came on Saturday at the hands of Old Dominion, this one a little less forgivable considering Mason is a superior team to the Monarchs. Once at the top of the CAA, a loss tonight could drop Mason down to 4th, behind a fast charging Drexel.
The Pride, on the other hand, have been playing their best basketball as of late. Before dropping a home game to VCU on Saturday the Pride had won 4 in a row. They are led by G Charles Jenkins who averages 18.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.5 assists a game. Mason has been burned recently by guards, Eric Maynor of VCU and Matt Janning of Northeastern both torched them. Another guard that could give Mason trouble tonight is Hofstra's Cornelius Vines, their second leading scorer. The Pride do have some bigs in F Dane Johnson and Mikos Szabo, so it will be F Daryl Monroe and F Louis Birdsong's jobs to contain them.
For Mason, this will be G John Vaughan's second game back since his scary collapse against Northeastern. Vaughan obviously wasn't himself against Old Dominion but hopefully that game shook the rust. They will need his best defensive effort to win this game. This will really come down to whose guards perform better. Mason is 10-0 at home, another key factor. I think this game comes down to the final minutes, with the Patriots squeaking out a win.
Prediction: George Mason 65, Hofstra 61
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