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Sports

Hancock Saves Day, Mason Advances Over Villanova

Patriots win game 61-57

Luke Hancock hit a 3-pointer with 19 seconds remaining as the George Mason men's basketball team overcame a 10-point second half deficit and defeated Villanova, 61-57, in their second round NCAA Tournament game in Cleveland on Friday.

Hancock's triple, which gave the Patriots a 59-57 lead, and junior forward Mike Morrison's fast break dunk as time expired off a miss by the Wildcats' Corey Fisher, capped one of the most exciting games in this year's tournament to date.

"I'm not the first option to shoot a three," Hancock said. "Mike and Ryan [Pearson] were coming up to set a double screen, and I was going to go off of that and look for Cam [Long] in the corner. I set my man up, and he went back a little farther than I thought and I just shot it."

Hancock's shot over Fisher gave him a team-high 18 points and advances No. 8 seed George Mason (27-6 overall) on to face No. 1 overall seed Ohio State on Sunday. It is just the second time the Patriots have won their opening NCAA game, the first time coming when they made their run to the Final Four in 2006.

George Mason overcame not only a double-digit deficit in the second half, but also an off-night from their top two leading scorers in Long and Pearson, who shot just a combined 4-of-18 from the field and accounted for 15 points between them.

However, Hancock, Morrison (10 points, 11 rebounds) and senior sixth-man Isaiah Tate (10 points) stepped up to fill much of the scoring void, and the Patriots held Villanova to just 29 percent shooting (7-for-24) from field in the second half in knocking off a Big East Conference team for just the second time in school history.

Down 10 with just more than four minutes remaining, Long, the team's undisputed leader, said the Patriots did not panic.

"We came to the huddle and discussed with each other, that, 'Hey, just calm down. Pick up on D, rebound and run the floor'," said Long, who finished with seven points, six rebounds and four assists. "That's what we did, and that's why we were able to come out successful."

Tip off for Sunday's game against the Buckeyes is scheduled for 12 noon.

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