Dec. 22, 2010

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PITTSBURGH - Isaiah Tate's 3-pointer with 1:08 left in the second overtime proved to be the difference maker as George Mason extended its winning streak to seven with an 85-79 win over Duquesne at the Palumbo Center.

Ryan Pearson scored eight of his team-high 17 points in the first overtime for George Mason (9-2). Cam Long also had 17 for the Patriots. Andre Cornelius, who missed all six of his first half field goal attempts, went 5-of-5 in the second to finish with 14 points for GMU.

Bill Clark scored a game-high 21 and T.J. McConnell added 19 for the Dukes (5-5). Damian Saunders, who became DU's all-time steals leader with a first half theft, posted a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

There were 16 ties and 17 lead changes in the game that ended Duquesne's Palumbo Center win streak at six.

Duquesne trailed by one with just under two minutes left in the second overtime, when Saunders mishandled a pass that fell out of bounds. Tate, who finished with 14 points, then buried a 3-pointer from just left of the top of the key to give GMU an 81-77 lead.

DU's Mike Talley missed a deep 3-point attempt with 42 second left that was corralled by Tate. Long was fouled and hit both to up the lead to six. Clark hit a layup with 20 seconds left before Tate added two more free throws for the final margin.

George Mason went 11-of-26 from the 3-point arc including 8-of-16 in the second half and overtime. The Patriots outrebounded the Dukes 54-37. Duquesne, which entered the game shooting 42.2 percent from 3-point, was 5-of-20.

"We had to defend two or three times per possession because we weren't rebounding the ball," said Duquesne coach Ron Everhart. "When you give up 26 offensive boards and get outrebounded 54-37, that's a problem."

There were four ties and six lead changes in the first half which ended with an 8-2 Duquesne run. Joel Wright, who gave the Dukes a big boost with nine points off the bench in nine first half minutes, started the run with a three-point play. Dave Theis added a pair of free throws and McConnell buried a 3-pointer with the shot clock at two to give the Dukes a 34-29 lead at the half.

GMU responded by hitting three 3-pointers in the first 2:45 of the second half to take a 38-36 lead.

Neither team led by more than four until Long's free throws with 45 seconds left in the second overtime.

McConnell tied it at 64-64 with a driving layup off a pass from Saunders with 16 seconds left in regulation. George Mason called timeout with 10 seconds left to set up a final play but was unable to get off a shot as time expired.

Sean Johnson tied it with a pair of free throws with seven seconds left in the first overtime. Long and Pearson both missed contested shots to send the game into a second overtime tied at 73-73.

George Mason shot better from the arc (42.3%) than it did from the field (38.9%). Duquesne finished at 42.6 percent. DU turned it over nine times to 15 for GMU.

Duquesne breaks for Christmas before hosting Northwestern State on Friday, Dec. 31 at 4:00 p.m.

NOTES

• With his steal at the 1:30 mark of the first half, Damian Saunders passed Kenya Hunter (1993-96) to become Duquesne's all-time steals leader ... Saunders now has 219 for his career ... Hunter held the old mark at 218 ... Saunders broke the school record for blocked shots on Dec. 4 at Penn State (he has 239 for his career).

• With his lone 3-pointer, Bill Clark tied Wayne Smith for third on Duquesne's career 3-pointers made list with 179 ... Smith had 179 3-pointers from 1999-02 ... Clark trails only Tom Pipkins (311 from 1994-97) and Tony Petrarca (287 from 1987-91) on the DU career list.

• Duquesne was just the third team to score over 60 points against George Mason ... the Patriots are 1-2 in those games.

• Sophomore F/C Rodrigo Peggau was not in uniform for the Dukes ... he is recovering from a concussion suffered at practice on Dec. 14 ... he has missed two games since the injury (he also did not dress for the Dec. 18 IUPUI game).