George Mason advanced on in the Atlantic 10 tournament today with a win over UMass. While the Minutemen shot very well from behind the arch Mason dominated on the offensive glass and second chance points. Those extra opportunities paid off in the second half while weathering a storm from UMass’s best player Luwane Pipkins. The officiating was definitely a bit odd but they got that call right at the end where Pipkins shoved off Greene during their final possession. Mason played their game more in the second half and got to the line and connected. Otis Livingston II was huge from there and Goanar Mar really stepped up as Justin Kier and Jaire Grayer were having off nights. Big story though was the freshmen though as Mar, Greg Calixte, AJ Wilson, and Javon Greene came up big.
Mason’s second chance points were huge and Calixte and AJ Wilson were a big part of that. The whole team was crashing the glass all day and this has to be encouraging to Mason fans going into the rest of this week. It was also great to see Greene be a factor again off the bench and hitting big outside shots. At the end of the day Otis came up big again and Mason was able to be tough and composed down the stretch. Now on to Saint Joes.