Richmond Soars Past George Mason, 77-57

Saturday, February 24

Richmond, VA

1:00 PM ET

University of Richmond

George Mason

02/24/2001 | Men's Basketball

By: Richmond Athletics

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. --- The University of Richmond (20-6, 11-4) celebrated Senior Day in style, taking over sole possession of first place in the Colonial Athletic Association, with a 77-57 win over George Mason University (16-11, 11-5). Spiders senior forward Greg Stevenson (Fayetteville, N.C./71st) recorded his ninth double-double of the season, recording 34 points and 10 rebounds as Richmond picked up its 20th win of the season. It is the first time since the 1997-98 season the Spiders have won 20 games.

George Mason shot 0-for-9 in the first five minutes of the contest and Richmond capitalized, soaring out to a 12-0 lead. Another Spiders' run, this one an 8-0 spurt capped off by a Scott Ungerer (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) three-pointer, would give the home team its largest lead (16) of the first half at the 10:50 mark (23-7). The Patriots, though, did not concede. George Mason point guard Tremaine Price's trey concluded a 20-5 scoring tear (13 straight George Mason points) and pulled the visitors to within one point (25-24) with 4:27 remaining in the first half. Stevenson scored eight of Richmond's last 10 points of the half to pull the Spiders lead back to six at intermission, 35-29. Richmond shot a scorching 85.7 percent (6-of-7) from three-point land in the first stanza.

The Patriots closed to within two early in the second half but another run by the Spiders (22-7) would put the lead at double-digits and out of George Mason's grasp. Stevenson, in contention with Patriots forward George Evans for CAA Player of the Year honors, answered to the fans' chants of "MVP" accounting for 10 straight Richmond points during the run. Senior forward (Va. Beach, Va./Cape Henry) emphatic dunk with 3:20 remaining gave Richmond its largest lead of the contest (21) and securely sealed the 77-57 victory.

Sophomore center Eric Zwayer (Sebring, Fla./Sebring) scored in double figures for the fifth time in the past seven games, registering 12 points. Junior guard Ungerer added 10 points, four assists and three steals. Richmond shot a season-high 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from behind the arc. Evans paced the Patriots with 16 points.

Richmond, winners of nine of its past 10 contests, travels to cross-town rival VCU on Tuesday, February 27 to wrap up its regular season. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.