Mustangs Feel Right at Home in State Tournament

It’s been 10-years since George Mason’s boys basketball team last appeared in the state tournament, but the 2010-2011 edition of the Mustangs are playing like they’ve been there before. Nate Ogle helped key a 19-4 run to start the game and finished with 18 points as George Mason beat Middlesex by a score of 73-56 to advance to the Virginia A semifinals for the first time since 2001.

The hot start proved critical down the stretch, as the Chargers pulled to within five in the second quarter before perimeter shooting helped the Mustangs build the lead back to double digits. George Mason hit five of its first six attempts from long range, and despite a miniature rally by Middlesex, led by 13 at the half after Noel Obusan’s putback at the buzzer.

The momentum carried into the second half as the Mustangs built the lead to as many as 17. Middlesex stuck around though, and a Ryheem Lockley dunk plus an and-one opportunity pulled the Chargers within 12 just before the end of the third quarter.

Cody Hunter connected from behind the arc to cut the score to 58-51 with just over four minutes remaining, but Jeremy Stewart hit a pair of free throws and Philippe Griffiths converted a three point play to extend the lead back to 12 points, and the Chargers never got closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Obusan scored 15 points, Stewart finished with 12 and Griffiths and Brandon Alexander each added 11 as five Mustangs finished in double digits for the first time this year.

“What more can you ask for?” coach Chris Capannola said of the evenly distributed effort. “We’re a balanced team, and I don’t think we’ve ever had five in double digits. Who do you guard against us?”

Middlesex featured an athletic lineup in the form of the 6-foot-4 Lockley, who finished with 15 points, and the 6-foot-3 Hunter, who led the way for the Chargers with 22. Capannola credited a slight change in defensive strategy, as well as luck in the way some rebounds came off the rim, for how the Mustangs neutralized the Chargers’ size and created transition baskets.

“This is the first team that’s really shoved us around on the offensive boards, but if [we] control the basketball and control the boards, I think we’re good enough to beat anybody,” Capannola said.

The Mustangs now face Region C winner James River. That game will tip off at 9 p.m. Thursday at VCU’s Seigel Center. Despite not having much information on his upcoming opponent, Capannola is confident that as long as the Mustangs play the same game that brought them this far, they will be successful.

“This game we didn’t know too much. We knew about [Lockley], but we didn’t know too much [else],” Capannola said. “We sort of adjusted on the fly.”