Patriots seek late season surge

By Robert Daski

Published: February 22, 2008

It is no surprise to see George Mason guard Folarin Campbell and forward Will Thomas score points. They have been doing that throughout the season.

They must continue doing that through the final four games of the George Mason men’s basketball team’s regular season. If they do that and the Patriots make the adjustments to be a complete offensive team, George Mason could put itself in position to win the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament or make a case for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Thomas scored 24 points and Campbell finished with 19 in the Patriots’ 70-58 win over Delaware Wednesday at home. It was Thomas’ seventh straight game scoring at least 10 points and Campbell’s 11th. They look to contribute just as many points or more as George Mason (19-8, 11-5 CAA) visits Ohio University to play a BracketBuster game at 1 p.m. on ESPN2 today.

Today’s game is the first of their final four before the conference tournament begins March 7. Though the BracketBuster game could be a key to reaching the NCAA tournament again, Campbell and his teammates are more concerned with the league title.

“It’s our last ride,” said Campbell, a senior along with Thomas. “We’ve been to the Final Four. The only thing we haven’t done is win a CAA Tournament. If we can win the CAA Tournament, it would be great for our seniors and everyone on the team.”

Their scoring certainly has impressed opposing coaches.

“They’re seniors and they’ve been through the wars,” Delaware coach Monte Ross said. “They’re certainly giving George Mason what they want to give them. They’re really carrying this team.”

Campbell and Thomas were certainly at their best when Delaware was cutting into George Mason’s lead Wednesday. Campbell hit the first of two jump shots to ignite the Patriots’ 14-4 run that helped them pull away. Thomas converted three straight baskets during the run, the last of which came when he caught a pass in the paint from Campbell and made a layup to put the Patriots ahead 50-32.

But Thomas and Campbell are not the only ones whom the Patriots can rely on to score. Forward Louis Birdsong must build on the 10-point, eight rebound, two assist and one block numbers he put up against the Blue Hens.

“Louis Birdsong was instrumental,” said Patriots coach Jim Larranaga, who recorded his 400th win in his 24th season as a college head coach Wednesday. “If we can get Louis going, that can help our offense.”

John Vaughan must improve on a 1-for-7 shooting night. Dre Smith needs to return to consis-tently scoring in double digits and Cameron Long (Freedom ‘07) and Chris Fleming (Osbourn Park ‘05) must also become proven playmakers.

“We’re at our best when we have great balance inside at forward with Will and Lou and outside from Folarin and JV,” Larranaga said. “Chris Fleming almost had a three-point play [against Delaware] and Cam Long’s defense and ball-handling were very helpful to us.”

In spite of everyone’s talents, a key to George Mason being successful on offense is giving Tho-mas the ball and letting him attack the basket.

“We kept running the same things and were trying to look for mismatches,” Campbell said. “We tried to get Will the ball down low. We were surprised they were letting him go one-on-one.”