Cavaliers End Homestand With 68-48 Victory Over George Mason
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CHARLOTTESVILLE-Senior guard Sammy Zeglinski scored 18 points and Virginia shot 60.5 percent (26-43) from the field for the game as the Cavaliers defeated George Mason 68-48 Tuesday night (Dec. 6) at John Paul Jones Arena.
The victory was the sixth in a row for UVa and improved the Cavaliers’ record to 8-1 on the season. It’s the first time Virginia is 8-1 to start a season since the 2004-05 season.
The loss ended a four-game George Mason winning streak and dropped the Patriots’ record to 6-3.
The Cavaliers have held all nine of their opponents this season under 60 points and five of their opponents under 50 points.
Zeglinski, who also had four steals, was one of four Virginia players to score in double figures. Junior guard Jontel Evans, sophomore guard Joe Harris and senior forward Mike Scott each scored 11 points for the Cavaliers. Sophomore forward Akil Mitchell and senior center Assane Sene each had five rebounds to lead UVa in that department.
Senior forwards Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson and sophomore guard Vertrail Vaughns each scored nine points to lead George Mason.
UVa out-scored the Patriots 21-6 over an almost 10-minute stretch of the first half to take a 32-15 lead with 4:54 left before halftime. Zeglinski had six points and Scott five in that Virginia run. George Mason then out-scored the Cavaliers 7-1 the rest of the half to trim UVa’s lead to 33-22 at halftime.
After the Cavaliers led by as many as 19 points early in the second half, the Patriots used a 6-0 run to cut UVa’s lead to 50-40 with 9:41 to play. Baskets by Sene and Harris got the Virginia lead back to 14 at 54-40 with 7:54 remaining in the game and George Mason got no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
UVa shot 50 percent (7-14) from three-point range in the game, but made only 52.9 percent (9-17) of its free throw attempts. The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Patriots 24-23.
George Mason shot 47.5 percent (19-40) from the field, including 25.0 percent (2-8) from three-point range, and just 50.0 percent (8-16) from the free-throw line.
Virginia now takes a break for semester exams and does not play again until Dec. 18 when the Cavaliers play at Oregon.