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UD mens basketball team falls to George Mason 3:19 p.m., Feb. 23, 2004--Continuing to struggle on the road, the University of Delaware mens basketball team fell 75-61 to George Mason University in a Colonial Athletic Association contest played Saturday afternoon before 7,034 fans at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. The Fightin Blue Hens are just 2-7 in CAA away games this season but a perfect 7-0 at home. UD will close out the regular season with two conference games at home at the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center, both times hosting CAA frontrunners. Virginia Commonwealth University will visit The Bob at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 25, and longtime rival will visit at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28. The teams are tied for the conference lead at 12-4. The final week of conference play will have a major impact on seedings heading into the CAA tournament, scheduled March 5-8 at the Richmond (Va.) Coliseum. The Hens are 15-10 overall and 9-7 in the CAA, tied with Hofstra. George Mason and Old Dominion are both 10-6 and the University of North Carolina Wilmington is 8-8. In Saturdays loss, George Mason forward Jai Lewis paced a balanced attack with 14 points and eight rebounds. Lamar Butler came off the bench to add 10 points and eight George Mason players contributed six or more points and five had four or more rebounds. Backup Trent Wurtz also contributed five points, six rebounds and a career-high six steals. UD point guard Mike Slattery had a solid game with 17 points, six rebounds and six assists. Senior guard Mike Ames scored 16 points and Harding Nana scored 14 points and had a game-high 10 rebounds. UD hit just six of 23 three-pointers and committed 20 turnovers while George Mason turned the ball over just seven times. Starters scored all but three of UDs 61 points, marking just the third time in Head Coach David Henderson's 114-game coaching tenure that his team did not get 10 or more points from the bench. The Hens played without starting center Raphael Madera and backup guard Chris Prothro, who were out with injuries. Forward Herb Courtney left the game in the first half with a knee injury. UD led briefly as the Hens hit on four of their first five shots and went up 10-8 on a jumper by Slattery with 15:09 remaining in the first half. But George Mason proceeded to outscore UD 17-4 over the next five minutes and had a 43-32 advantage at the break. George Mason scored the first two baskets of the second half and the Hens never got closer than 11 points the remainder of the game. To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |