TOWSON, Md. ? Entering Wednesday night's game against Colonial Athletic Association-leading George Mason University, the Tigers were hoping to build on the momentum of back-to-back one-point wins. However, the Patriots (11-3, 4-0) scored 20 points scored off 17 Tiger turnovers en route to a 71-59 CAA victory over the Tigers (7-9, 2-2) in the Towson Center.

      The Patriots, who held Towson to 38.5 per cent shooting from the floor, won their third game in a row. It was also George Mason's sixth win in its last seven games.

      After opening the game with a 9-2 run, the Patriots were never seriously threatened. When senior guard Josh Vaughan nailed a three-point basket with six seconds left in the half, George Mason went to intermission with a 33-22 lead. In the first half, the Patriots forced 12 turnovers and scored 15 points off them. George Mason also held Towson to 34.6 per cent shooting from the floor.

      In the second half, the Patriots built their lead to 44-30 with 15:16 remaining before Towson rallied. When freshman guard Troy Franklin nailed a jumper with 13:25 remaining, the Tigers' deficit was just 47-39.

      However, the Patriots turned up the heat defensively and responded with a 14-3 run that extended their lead to 61-42 with 9:11 remaining in the game. George Mason held Towson without a basket for the 5:27 until junior Josh Thornton hit a jumper with 7:58 remaining, pulling the Tigers to within 62-47.

      Towson never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

      “George Mason is a very difficult team to play if you're behind,” said Towson Coach Pat Kennedy. “We were very flat in the first half. This was our fifth game in 11 days and we were coming off two emotional wins. We just didn't have the energy we had against James Madison and Delaware. We tried to pick it up in the second half and gather some momentum but we had no energy left to come back.”

      The Tigers, who had posted back-to-back last-second wins over James Madison (58-57) and Delaware (62-61), were led by Thornton, who scored 14 points, mostly due to a 7-for-8 effort at the foul line. Franklin was the only other Tiger to score in double figures as he tallied ten points and had three assists.

      Led by Junior Hairston, the Tigers outrebounded the Patriots by a 37-32 margin. Hairston had a game high 11 rebounds, along with seven points and four blocked shots.

      Senior forward Darryl Monroe led the Patriots with 16 points and 10 rebounds. He shot 8-for-11 from the floor and had eight offensive rebounds. Monroe also led the Patriots with three steals.

      Sophomore guard Cam Long added 13 points and four assists while senior guard Dre Smith scored 11 points with a game high five assists.

      The Patriots, who shot 50 per cent from the floor in the second half, made 48.3 per cent of their field goal tries. In addition, George Mason was 4-for-9 from three-point range.

      For the defending CAA champion Patriots, it marked the 13th consecutive time that they beat the Tigers.

      Towson returns to action on Saturday afternoon when the Tigers travel to Northeastern University to face the Huskies at 3:00 p.m. The game will be televised on the Comcast Network.