ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – George Mason's stingy defense never allowed a short-handed St. Bonaventure squad to gain much offensive momentum in a 75-62 win for the first-place Patriots Tuesday night at the Reilly Center.

Melvin Council Jr. led the Bonnies with 18 points along with four assists while redshirt freshman Duane Thompson had a career performance of 16 points and seven rebounds.

Already playing without the services of starters Chance Moore and Dasonte Bowen who were both out with foot injuries, the Bonnies' depth was tested even more in the early going as Lajae Jones missed over 10 minutes of the first half after having his lip cut open following a fall to the court. Noel Brown also was forced to the bench early with two fouls.

That left many young Bonnies left to pick up the available minutes and George Mason ran ahead, 20-9 and doubled up the hosts with a 30-15 advantage at the under-8 media timeout.

Thompson tallied 10 of Bona's first 15 points, posting a new career-high in scoring in the first dozen minutes.

Bona (15-5, 3-4 A-10) used a 9-0 run fueled by Council to get back within 33-24 at the final media timeout of the first half, but Mason ran its advantage to 45-31 at the break.

The Bonnies tried to surge again out of the locker room by tallying the first five points of the second stanza to get back within single digits.

Momentum was fleeting for the hosts, though, as the Patriots were ahead by 15 once more following a three by Darius Maddox at the 8:37 mark.

Despite the Bonnies outscoring the visitors over the final 30 minutes, SBU was unable to dig out of its early hole.

George Mason (15-5, 6-1 A-10) helped ice the game by going a perfect 19-for-19 at the foul line.

Zach Anderson went 6-for-9 from the floor including 5-for-8 from distance for a team-high 17 points and Maddox chipped in 14 points and seven boards for George Mason.

The Patriots won the battle of the boards, 35-27 and shot 47 percent overall to Bona's 39.7 percent clip.

GAME NOTES

• Noah Bolanga made his first collegiate start. He had a career-high eight points in the game and tied his career high in minutes with 21, last recorded against Fordham earlier this month.
• George Mason entered the week as the 12^th-ranked defense in the country only allowing 62.7 points per game.
• Thompson set his career-best with 10 points in the first half. His previous best of seven came in multiple games this season.
• The Bonnies came into Tuesday's match-up averaging less than six points off the bench in A-10 play. In the first half the Bonnies had 12 points off the bench. They finished the night with 18 points off the pine.
• George Mason started 6-of-8 from three before settling for an 8-for-20 mark. SBU held the Patriots to 2-for-12 from beyond the arc in the second half.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT
"The last 30 minutes, we led by one. It was the first 10 minutes of the game that made the difference. They knocked us back; they made shots and we couldn't score. Our defensive pressure got better in the second half and we stayed connected. We did a much better job in the last 20 minutes of the game, but you can't get down to a really talented team by 15 in the first 10 minutes."

"Duane played well. He gave us a lift and played hard. Noah didn't get off to a good start, but he played well at times and hopefully that can help him going forward. We need those young guys to help us out going forward. We're a little short-handed, but we can't use that as an excuse. Every time we missed a switch or a handoff, they hit a three."
 
UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure travels to VCU to play on Friday night under the lights of a national showcase game on ESPNU with tipoff slated for 9 p.m.

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