The Triangle

Issue date: 2/20/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Aaron Walizer

Down by one with seven seconds remaining, the men's basketball team did what it was supposed to do on its final possession against George Mason - put the ball in the hands of its playmaker Scott Rodgers.

Rodgers, normally well-adept at getting to the rim, got into the paint and it looked as though he would be able to hoist a buzzer-beating pull-up jumper to stun the Patriots and snap their 12-game home winning streak. However, GMU's ball-hawking defense collapsed on Rodgers, forcing him to lose the ball.

Leon Spencer picked it up and had a chance to be a hero, but his desperation turnaround fall-away jumper went in-and-out at the buzzer as the Dragons suffered their second heartbreaking one-point defeat to the Patriots, 49-48, in front of a crowd of 5,579 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va.

"We ran a little twirl play," Drexel head coach Bruiser Flint said. "I thought Scotty had it if he drove with his right hand, but he drove with his left hand they got their hands on it."

The loss drops Drexel (14-11, 10-6 Colonial Athletic Association) into a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference with Hofstra and Old Dominion and leaves doubt whether the team will be able to earn a first-round bye in the CAA Tournament.

Darryl Monroe, scored a game-high 15 points for GMU (18-8, 11-5), which continued its winning ways at home and trails first-place Virginia Commonwealth (19-8, 12-4) by just one game in the CAA standings.

Evan Neisler had a team-leading 14 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 42 seconds left for the Dragons, who saw their two-game winning streak come to an end. Rodgers added 12.

Both teams struggled to score all night long. Drexel shot 34.8 percent, while GMU connected on just 34 percent of its field goal attempts.

"We told the team beforehand it was gonna be a street fight and you need to come with some mental toughness," George Mason head coach Jim Larranaga said. "It's not gonna be pretty. We're not gonna shoot 60 percent or score 100 points tonight."

Earlier in the season Drexel nearly completed a miracle comeback against GMU, but Evan Neisler missed a fadeaway jumper as time expired and the Dragons fell 56-55 Dec. 6 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

"These are tough [losses]," Neisler said. "We feel like it could've went either way. If we made better decisions we could've had two wins."

Continued...

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