FAIRFAX, Va. – The University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team gave one-loss George Mason all it could handle on Sunday evening at EagleBank Arena, even without leading scorer Ethan Roberts. However, a 10-0 run by the Patriots midway through the second half flipped the script and the Quakers could never quite recover in taking an 83-79 loss.
 
Penn—which got as close as two in the final minute—fell to 6-6 overall, while Mason won its third straight game and improved to 12-1.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn had 19 assists on Sunday, tied for most against a Division I opponent this season (also Villanova on December 6), and the Quakers' 19/8 assist/turnover ratio (2.38) was a season best.
 
*Penn shot 11-26 from beyond the arc, the third-best shooting game from distance percentage-wise this season and the fourth time the Quakers have reached double digits in treys.
 
*Penn had seven blocked shots, a season high.
 
*Michael Zanoni scored 23 points on Sunday, most in a game since he dropped 30 at Providence on November 11.
 
*Zanoni—who was 9-14 from the field including 5-9 on three-pointers—also dished out four assists, his Penn career high.
 
*Senior Cam Thrower had an outstanding game on Sunday, filling the box score with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. The assist total was a career high, the rebound total matched his career best, and the 14 points were two shy of his career standard.
 
*After going scoreless in Penn's last game, at Rutgers, sophomore AJ Levine scored a season-high 11 points and added five assists (without a turnover) and two steals.
 
*Junior Augustus Gerhart was hampered by foul trouble early and often on Sunday but finished the night with 10 points and five rebounds in less than 20 minutes.
 
*Junior TJ Power saw his double-figure scoring streak end at ten games on Sunday, as he finished with eight points on six shots. He also had three rebounds and two assists.
 
*Sophomore Lucas Lueth finished with seven points, most since he dropped a season-high nine against Merrimack exactly a month ago. He also had four rebounds and two blocked shots.
 
*Mason placed four players in double digits in the scoring column, led by Fatt Hill (18), Kory Mincy (16), and Nick Ellington who finished with a double-double (16 points/11 rebounds). Jahari Long added 12 points and a team-high five assists, while Emmanuel Kanga snared ten boards.
 
How It Happened
Mason got out quickly, winning the opening tap and scoring on its first four possessions for an 8-2 lead. However, Zanoni singlehandedly brought Penn back, scoring the Quakers' first seven points. Before long, others were getting into the act and it was 16-13 by the first media timeout and 26-24 Mason at the under-12 media. At that point, Zanoni was already at 13 points for the night.
 
Penn led 24-22, but the Patriots ripped off a 9-0 run that ended when Jay Jones converted a hoop and harm. Mason answered with five more points, making it a 14-2 stretch for a double-digit margin, at 36-26. Mason's lead was still 42-35 with a little more than a minute to go before halftime, but Lueth scored on a layup and then Penn ended the half in style with a sideline out-of-bounds play that ended with Lueth finding Zanoni who drained his fourth triple of the period.
 
The momentum carried into the second half, as Zanoni opened the scoring with another long distance dial-up. He then fed Levine for an open layup and Power for a triple, pushing the Quakers in front by a 48-44 score. Overall, it was a 13-2 run bridging the halves.
 
That lead held for several minutes and was 60-54 after Lueth drained a triple from the right corner; when the under-12 media timeout came the Quakers were still in front, 64-62. However, Mason had just started what would be a 10-0 run over a three-minute span. Levine finally ended it with a drive that ended with him going off the glass, making the score 70-66, but Mason wasn't done—the Patriots streak would ultimately hit 17-4 and when Kanga scored with 5:31 left they led by nine, 77-68.
 
GMU went dry from the field after that, however, and Penn worked its way back. A pair of Gerhart free throws made it 78-74 with 2:16 left, and then a Levine coast-to-coast drive ended with a layup that again made it a four-point game, 80-76, as the clock hit a minute. Penn tried to get a 10-second count and then fouled after that went by the boards. Hill went 1-of-2 at the line to make it 81-76, and then Levine drove the ball down the floor and made a cross-court pass as he fell to the floor. The ball found Power, who was wide open in the left corner, and the junior calmly drilled a three-pointer to make it a one-possession game with 41.3 seconds left at 81-79.
 
Penn opted to play it out defensively for Mason's next possession, and Lueth blocked Long underneath. However, GMU's Nick Ellington rebounded the ball and fed a diving Hill for a layup with 12.9 seconds left—the Patriots' first field goal since the Kanga bucket with 5:31 left. Penn's final possession ended with Thrower missing a contested trey, which George Mason rebounded just ahead of the final horn.
 
Up Next
Penn is back at The Palestra for its final non-conference game of the season, hosting NJIT on New Year's Eve day at 2 p.m.
 
For the latest on Penn men's basketball, follow @PennMBB on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.