ATLANTA- In the regular-season finale for both teams, Georgia State fell, 65-58, to George Mason, which extended the nation's longest winning streak to 15 games Saturday at the GSU Sports Arena.
Georgia State (11-18, 6-12 CAA) is the ninth seed in the CAA Championship, which begin Friday in Richmond, Va. The Patriots (25-5, 16-2 CAA) are the top seed after winning the CAA regular season by two games.
Junior Josh Micheaux scored a career-high 17 points for the Panthers.
Cam Long led Mason with 19 points, hitting 6-of-11 from the field.
Georgia State stayed close throughout the night, taking a 45-43 lead with 9:30 to play. Mason answered with a basket by Long and never trailed again, although the Panthers stayed within striking distance until the Patriots pulled away in the final seconds.
The game featured 10 ties and seven lead changes changes.
With the scored tied at 54 with just 2:38 left, Andre Cornelius made a pair of free throws that put Mason ahead for good. After a missed shot by GSU, Michael Morrison's bucket put the Patriots ahead 58-54. Cam Long nailed a trey with 20 seconds left to seal the victory.
"They are a really good team; they've won 15 straight games for a reason," said GSU head coach Rod Barnes. "I thought our kids played hard, but just didn't make enough plays. We had a chance to score some points in transition that we didn't convert."
In his final game at the GSU Sports Arena, senior Marques Johnson contributed eight points, six rebounds and five assists. Senior Dante Curry was also honored before the game but was unable to play due to an ankle injury.
Micheaux connected on 7-of-11 shots from the field to record his sixth double-figure effort of the season. The junior from Missouri City, Texas also had four rebounds, four assists and two steals.
"Josh was really aggressive, and he did a great job bringing energy to our team tonight," Barnes continued.
Freshman Javonte Maynor had another solid effort with nine points and five rebounds. Jihad Ali added 10 points.
Junior Brandon McGee added eight points and seven rebounds for State.
Morrison added 14 points and five rebounds for Mason, while Vertrail Vaughns came off the bench to score 12 points, going 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.
All of Georgia State games in next week's CAA Championship can be heard live on WRAS-FM 88.5 beginning 30 minutes prior to tip. A full schedule for the event in Richmond, Va. will be announced following the conclusion of games on Saturday.
--GeorgiaStateSports.com--
