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Three players set new career highs and Ryan Pearson had a double-double as the George Mason men's basketball team beat VMI, 89-86 at Patriot Center on Tuesday night. Pearson had 16 points and 13 rebounds, Sherrod Wright had 24 points, including 18 in the first half, Isaiah Tate had 12 points and Rashad Whack had nine points as the Patriots improved to 6-5 on the year.

Mason used a 9-0 run midway through the second half to turn a 32-30 deficit into a 39-32 lead. The Patriots took a double-digit lead with three minutes to go in the half, 50-39, but VMI was able to trim it to 52-45 at the break. The Keydets were 7 of 16 from the field while helped make up for allowing Mason to shoot 59.5 percent with a 21-14 edge on the boards.

The second half saw VMI come out on a 14-4 run to take a 59-56 lead, their largest of the contest to that point. They eventually went ahead by five at 72-67, then at 76-71 with 8:26 to play. But Rashad Whack drained a 3-pointer and Wright made a free throw to trim it to one and after two VMI possessions without a point, Whack made another 3-pointer to put the Patriots ahead 78-76 with 6:30 to go.

With the Patriots up one, 79-78 and fewer than five minutes to play, Pearson banked in a 3-pointer to make it 82-78. Pearson continued to provide the offense for Mason with free throws and rebounds, but the Keydets wouldn't go away. Keith Gabriel's free throws with a little more than two minutes to play trimmed the Mason lead to 85-84. With 1:02 to play, Ron Burks found Stan Okoye wide open under the basket on an inbound play and Okoye slammed it home to make it 86-85.

But the Patriots did not allow another VMI point. Mason retook the lead when Luke Hancock grabbed an offensive rebound and found an opening for the putback to make it 87-86. After a stop on the defensive end and a long rebound, Cam Long scored on an assist from Tate to seal the win, 89-86.