Game Story; George Mason 79, JMU 66

Saturday, February 17

Fairfax, Va.

TBA

James Madison University

10-15, 5-9CAA

George Mason

16-9, 11-3CAA

JAMES MADISON

GEORGE MASON

2/17/2001 11:37:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va. (2/17/2001) – Erik Herring had 14 of his career-high 30 points during the last four minutes as George Mason pulled away for a 79-66 win over JMU.

After trailing 31-30 at halftime and 40-34 early during the second half, JMU led 49-43 midway through the final period and was within 59-58 before Herring sparked the Patriots during the last four minutes. He had two-point field goals with 3:54 and 3:17 left and a three-pointer with 2:22 left to give George Mason a 66-60 advantage. The Patriots then hit on 11 of 14 free throws to seal the victory.

Herring hit on nine of 16 shots, including three of seven three-point tries. He also had a team-high seven rebounds and two assists in 38 minutes.

JMU got 20 points each from David Fanning and Tim Lyle but shot only 34.9 percent (22-63). The Dukes had nine three-pointers (22 tries) and out-rebounded George Mason 40-33, but the Patriots shot 54.0 percent (27-50).

Fanning had a career-high and JMU-season-high six three-pointers while Lyle hit on six of 12 shots and had 11 rebounds in his third double-double of the season. Fanning also had seven rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Chris Williams added 10 points for the Dukes.

Two-time CAA player of the year George Evans added 18 points and Tremaine Price 11 for George Mason.

The Patriots led 11-4 at the 13:28 mark of the first half, but JMU rallied to lead four times before intermission behind Fanning's four first-half three-pointers. Evans' five points helped George Mason raise its one-point halftime margin to six just more than four minutes into the final period. JMU then got three-pointers from Fanning, Lyle and Charlie Hatter during a 15-3 scoring burst to lead 49-43 with 10:05 left.

George Mason regained the lead at 50-49 with 8:35 left on the first of consecutive three-pointers by Price and went in front to stay 55-53 with 6:34 left on an Evans field goal. After getting to within 59-58 on a three-point play by Williams with 4:50 left, JMU didn't get another field goal until the 58-second mark when it trailed 75-61.