FAIRFAX, Va. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team fell to George Mason on Friday night, 87-66, at the EagleBank Arena. The Patriots (2-0) used a quick start and never looked back in pinning the Quakers with their second loss in three days to open the campaign.
 
Notes
*Sophomore Jordan Dingle led Penn with 20 points, giving him 43 in two games. He has led the Quakers in scoring in both games so far this season.
 
*Junior Jonah Charles had his second double-figure scoring game in a row, as well, with 18 points.
 
*All of Charles' points came on three-point baskets Friday night; in fact, his 30 points this season have come on 10 treys.
 
*In a homecoming game for him, senior Jelani Williams scored eight second-half points including a pair of triples.
 
*Williams also led Penn with six rebounds, while Dingle led the Quakers with five assists.
 
*Mason had five players in double figures on Friday night, led by Josh Oduro who went for 20 points (on 9-of-14 shooting) and eight rebounds.
 
How It Happened
The first half was slow to start—neither team scored until nearly two minutes were off the clock—but once the host Patriots got going Penn was helpless to stop them. GMU scored the game's first seven points, and then after Dingle finally got the Quakers on the board Mason reeled off another seven in a row for a 14-2 lead that was attained in just 3:12 of game time. That lead gradually grew to 17, at 35-18, before a modest six-point Penn run got the Quakers within 11.
 
Mason responded with the next eight points, the lead bulging to 19 when D'Shawn Schwartz hit the Patriots' seventh three-pointer of the half. Charles got three of them back just before the break, but GMU's lead was 43-27 as the teams went to the locker room.
 
The Quakers needed a good start to the second half, but instead it was Mason who kept things rolling. The hosts started with the ball and scored right away, the beginning of a 7-2 run that expanded the lead to 50-29. It was 54-32 out of the first media timeout.
 
Penn came to life, scoring eight in a row to get as close as 14. Just when it looked like the Quakers might make a game of it, though, Mason ran off seven points in just 36 seconds and 10 over a 1:16 span to blow this thing open and force a Penn timeout. The Red and Blue never got closer than 17 after that.
 
Up Next
Penn closes out this three-game road trip to start the season on Sunday, traveling to Lewisburg and a meeting with Bucknell. The Quakers and Bison will tip off at 2 p.m.