Johnson Scores Career-High 21 In Loss At George Mason

Wednesday, February 27

Fairfax, Va.

7:00 PM

University of Richmond

(12-16, 6-9A10)

George Mason

(16-12,10-5A10)

Richmond

George Mason

Johnson Scores Career-High 21 In Loss At George Mason

02/27/2019 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

FAIRFAX, Va. – Julius Johnson scored a career-high 21 points and made eight of 11 shots from the field but he couldn't offset a 13-43 shooting performance from the rest of the roster as the Spiders fell to George Mason 77-63 on Wednesday night.

"They played a really good game defensively," said coach Chris Mooney. "They rotated guys in on Grant [Golden] and made it a little bit hard for us."

Richmond entered the game shooting 55 percent from the field and 44 percent from three-point range while winning five of seven over the last month. But the Spiders hit on just 39 percent of their field goal attempts (21-54) and 28 percent of their three-pointers (5-18) on Wednesday.

The Spiders scored the game's first five points and held a 10-2 lead three minutes in. Johnson came off the bench to make an immediate impact, draining a three-pointer with 14:49 remaining in the first half to give the Spiders a 16-6 lead.

But Johnson's jumpshot would be the last three-pointer for Richmond until the three-minute mark of the second half, as the Spiders proceeded to miss their next 10 attempts from three-point range.

Richmond's poor shooting allowed George Mason back into the game. With the score tied at 29 and 11 seconds remaining in the first half, Patriots forward Jarred Reuter rebounded his own missed free throw and kicked it out for a three-pointer by Jamal Hartwell to give the home team a 32-29 lead at halftime, their first of the game.

Richmond scored the first six points after the break to retake the lead at 35-32, but George Mason scored 13 of the game's next 15 points to go up 45-37 at the 13-minute mark of the second half and never allowed the Spiders back into the game, coasting to a 77-63 win.

Johnson's 21 points eclipsed his previous career high of 17 against Dayton last season. Grant Golden recorded 10 points, nine rebounds, and a career-high six blocks for the Spiders. His jumpshot with 4:54 remaining in the first half gave him 1,000 career points at Richmond. He is the second sophomore in program history to reach 1,000 career points, joining Spiders all-time leading scorer Johnny Newman.

"That's an extraordinary accomplishment," said Mooney. "I'm sure that doesn't happen too often at any program. … He worked so hard and obviously came back from something devastating to put himself in position to potentially be one of the great players in the history of Richmond basketball." Golden received a medical redshirt in 2016-17 after he underwent heart surgery after collapsing during a game against Texas Tech.

Richmond will return to action Saturday at 4 PM against intercity rival VCU in the Lumber Liquidators Capital City Classic. Tip-off time is 4 PM and the game is being broadcast nationally on the CBS Sports Network.