George Mason Rallies To Complete 0-3 Hawaiian Nightmare For Saint Mary’s

The Saint Mary’s Gaels got off to a fast start Wednesday morning, but couldn’t finish as the George Mason Patriots rallied to take their first lead with 2:42 remaining and held off the Gaels for a 65-63 win in the seventh-place game of the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.

The Gaels (9-3) were unbeaten entering the tournament, but lost to South Carolina, host Hawaii and George Mason to finish last in the event.

Brad Waldow’s jumper 4:28 into the game gave Saint Mary’s a 12-2 lead and Stephen Holt put the Gaels up 10 once more with a 3-pointer with 12:16 left in the first half, but the Patriots (6-6) chipped away and got to within three on Bryon Allen’s free throws with 1:26 left in the half. But Matt Hodgson took a feed from Beau Levesque and got free for a dunk with six seconds left to give Saint Mary’s a 31-26 halftime lead and some momentum.

Or so we thought.

George Mason never went away in the second half and Allen hit a jumper with 2:42 to go to give the Patriots their first lead of the day at 57-56 and after Levesque turned the ball over, Patrick Holloway buried a 3-pointer to put Mason up by four.

Levesque hit a 3-ball to make it 61-59 with 38 seconds to go and Marquise Moore made just one of two free throws for the Patriots to keep it a one-possession game.

Holt was fouled and made both free throws with 14 seconds left to cut Mason’s lead to 62-61, but it was Allen that gave the Patriots a 65-62 lead with six seconds to go.

Holt was fouled to prevent a 3-point attempt and made the first, intentionally missing the second.

Anali Okoloji pulled down the rebound for George Mason and Saint Mary’s never got another possession.

Holt and James Walker III scored 14 points each for the Gales, while Brad Waldow had 10 points. Hodgson paced Saint Mary’s with seven rebounds and two blocked shots and Levesque handed out four assists.

Allen and Holloway scored 15 apiece for the Patriots and Johnny Williams added 14. Jalen Jenkins had five rebounds for George Mason and Marko Gujanicic had two assists.

George Mason was 21-for-44 (47.7 percent) overall, 3-for-5 (60 percent) from long range and 20-for-26 (76.9 percent) from the free-throw line.

Saint Mary’s was 20-for-48 (41.7 percent), 9-for-25 (36 percent) and 14-for-24 (58.3 percent).

The Gaels won the rebounding battle 27-26 and each team turned the ball over 13 times.

Saint Mary’s opens West Coast Conference play on Monday when it visits the University of the Pacific (9-2) in Stockton. UOP is back in the WCC for the first time since the 1970-71 season. Tipoff at the Spanos Center is 8 p.m. Pacific.