The George Mason men's basketball team rebounded from one of its worst losses of the century's first decade to post an impressive win to start the new decade. The Patriots beat one of the Colonial Athletic Association's top teams on Saturday, topping Old Dominion, 71-55 at Patriot Center in front of 8,629 fans. It was the first time all season ODU surrendered 70 points in a game.

The Patriots outrebounded, outshot and outhustled the Monarchs in improving to 2-0 on the season in conference play and 7-6 overall. The Monarchs, who are just two weeks removed from beating then-No. 11 Georgetown on the road, fell to 1-1 in the conference, 9-5 overall.

Ryan Pearson had 17 points and eight rebounds, Mike Morrison had 15 points and five rebounds and Cam Long had seven points, eight rebounds and four assists as Mason shot better than 50 percent for just the second time all year. Gerald Lee was the only Monarch in double figures scoring 17 points. Mason outrebounded ODU 36-30, made 6 of 12 from 3-point range and had eight steals and four blocks. The Patriots also shot 17 free throws while ODU attempted just seven.

The key stretch of the game came with Mason trailing 41-40 with 15:00 to play. The Patriots then began an 18-4 run that put them ahead by double figures with less than 10 minutes to play. Morrison dunked on the fastbreak and Long went coast-to-coast to begin the run. Morrison added two free throws and after an ODU basket, Luke Hancock scored inside, Johnny Williams scored inside and Pearson added a fastbreak dunk and a jumper to make it 53-43. Andre Cornelius got in the act then with a 16-footer and after the Monarchs scored inside, Cornelius added a 3-pointer to make it 58-45. Mason was able to go up by as many as 18 in the half before ODU regained its footing, but it was too late.

The Patriots jumped out to an early 6-0 lead but Old Dominion chipped away before taking its first lead at 17-16. The Monarchs led by as many as four at 23-19 but Mason rallied to tie the game three times, the last at 28-28. That's where the score stood when Hancock launched a 3-pointer from the corner and at the buzzer, the ball hit the rim, bounced high up in the air and fell straight through for a 31-28 halftime lead.