Mason Dunks Loyola (With PHOTOS)

Ryan Pearson had a game-high 18 points, Cam Long eclipsed 1,000 career points and Luke Hancock turned in another complete all-around performance to lead the George Mason men's basketball team to a 66-52 win over Loyola (Md.) on Wednesday at the Patriot Center.

The trio combined to shoot 18 for 25 from the field as the Patriots (7-2 overall) extended their winning streak to five games and remained unbeaten at home. The loss was the third straight for the Greyhounds, who fell to 3-5 on the season.

Long, who became the 30th player in the program's history to reach the benchmark with a 3-pointer just over a minute into the game, was perfect from the field in the first half, en route to 11 of his 15 points to bounce back from a five-point showing in Saturday's win over UNC-Wilmington.

"It's a great accomplishment that I knew was coming eventually," Long said of reaching 1,000 points. "I'm just glad I was able to do it in the environment here. Our fans are crazy."

The Patriots improved to 6-0 at home and completed a five-game homestand, their longest in 14 years. They forced 18 turnovers on Wednesday night and have now held their opponents to 40 percent shooting or less in every home game this season. They will now hit the road for six of their next seven games, beginning with a game at Liberty on Saturday.

"It's going to be a great challenge to play that kind of defense on the road," said George Mason Coach Jim Larranaga. "I certainly think you develop confidence through winning, but I will say I'm a little concerned about fatigue right now with all of the games we have played and now exams coming up.

"But we need to overcome that. We can't use that as an excuse."

Larranaga said that the Patriots wanted to come out and attack Loyola in the paint, and when senior forward Mike Morrison went to the bench with two fouls just three minutes into the game, they turned to Pearson, who hit 7-of-9 shots and reached a season-high in points.

"I wanted to attack the basket," Pearson said. "I just came out and wanted to be aggressive."

Hancock, a sophomore guard, continued to fill up the stat sheet, scoring 13 points while adding seven assists, four rebounds and four steals in 32 minutes. He has reached double-figures in scoring in eight of nine games and now has three games where he's had seven or more assists.

"He's showing how much of a skill level he has to be able to pass and attack the basket as well," Long said.

The Patriots now enter what could be the most important stretch in the first half of their season, with three non-conference road games to finish the calendar year giving way to a home game on Jan. 3 against Colonial Athletic Association rival Delaware and then road games at conference foes Hofstra, Old Dominion and Northeastern.

"We've just got to keep working hard in practice," said Pearson. "We would like to play the same way on the road as we do at home."