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ATLANTA ? Leonard Mendez hit the game-winning basket with a 14-foot jumper at the buzzer as Georgia State rallied from 16 points down to defeat George Mason, 66-64, in a Colonial Athletic Association game Wednesday at the Georgia State Sports Arena.
Justin Billingslea's layup with 34 seconds left put Georgia State (4-8, 1-1 CAA) ahead, 64-63, for the Panthers' first lead of the game, but George Mason (9-4, 1-1 CAA), the preseason favorite to win the CAA, tied the game. Dre Smith got fouled as he rebounded a miss by Folarin Campbell and made one of two free throws with 14 seconds on the clock.
After a non-shooting foul by Mason with 10 seconds left, the Panthers inbounded the ball to Mendez, who dribbled upcourt and inside the three-point line and stroked the jumper from the elbow.
“I didn't want to go too quick and give them another chance,” said Mendez, who scored a game-high 19 points despite not starting the game. “When the clock got down to about five seconds, I started to make my move. I took it hard right and gave him a little pump fake. He went for it, and I got a clear look at the basket.”
“I felt like we wanted to get the ball into his hands,” said head coach Rod Barnes, who elected not to start Mendez in an effort to shake up the lineup after two straight losses. “He's the captain of the team, and as he goes, so goes the team. Today, he did a great job of finishing for us.”
Georgia State trailed by as many as 16 points late in the first half, but the Panthers got back in the game with hot shooting in the second half, connecting on 62 percent after the intermission. For the game, State shot a season-high 55.3 percent while committing a season-low 11 turnovers to earn its first victory over George Mason since joining the CAA.
“It was a great win, first of all, for our program,” said Barnes. “For our kids, it's a testament to their hard work and focus. Finally we got the point where we played 40 minutes and finished. One of our goals is to better our record in the conference (from last season), and this is a good start.”
Trailing 43-32 at the intermission, Georgia State opened the second half with a 13-2 run to tie the game at 45-all with 12:46 to play. Trae Goldston scored seven points on the run, Mendez hit a three-pointer and Chase tied the game with a layup.
Mendez tied the game again at 53-all with a bucket at the 8:47 mark before Mason scored five straight on a trey by Vaughan and a layup by Campbell. After Goldston and D.J. Jones scored for State, Campbell hit a three-pointer to put Mason ahead 61-57 with 5:42 left.
The Patriots still led by four with under two minutes to play before Mendez nailed a three-pointer that brought State within one at 63-62 with 1:46 on the clock. The Panthers forced a shot clock violation with 1:08 left, and then Billingslea and Mendez closed out the game.
Mason had four players in double figures, led by John Vaughan with 18 points, and Will Thomas, who had 17 points and eight rebounds. Smith finished with 13, and Campbell added 12 for the Patriots.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga. “We played very well in the first half, shot the ball very well, but our defensive intensity in the second half just wasn't there and Georgia State really took advantage of it.
“Georgia State really played much better defense in the second half, and as the game progressed, they really went hard to the boards and we had a hard time keeping them off the boards. We had several guys in foul trouble and ended up digging ourselves, not a hole in terms of the score but allowing them to get back into the game very quickly.”
Georgia State now faces its first conference road game as the Panthers travel to Northeastern Saturday for a 1 p.m. game.
