Basketball Drops Opener to George Mason

Life in the post-Jeremy Lin ’10 era of Harvard men’s basketball got off to a rocky start this afternoon, as the Crimson (0-1) fell to George Mason (1-0) in its season opener, 66-53.

Playing without sophomore Kyle Casey, who suffered a broken foot in early October, Harvard struggled offensively, shooting 32.7 percent from the field and turning the ball over 24 times.

But despite the lackluster offensive performance, the Crimson managed to stay in the contest until midway through the second period. With 16:13 left in the second half, the Patriots used 14-0 run over the next 6:39 of play to grab a 20-point lead, sealing the victory for George Mason in front of 6,536 fans at the Patriot Center.

Junior co-captain Keith Wright’s 15 first-half points kept Harvard in the contest early on, as the Crimson trailed by just four points at halftime, 32-28.

While Wright finished with a game-high 22 points and a career-high 16 rebounds, it was not enough to keep Harvard from suffering a disappointing defeat.

Luke Hancock and Ryan Pearson led the way for George Mason, finishing with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Besides the production from Wright, the Crimson was unable to get much going offensively, with all others players shooting a combined 9 of 43 (20.9 percent) from the field. Sophomore Christian Webster was the only other Harvard player to reach double figures (11 points).

Harvard will look to get back on track this Wednesday when the team hosts Holy Cross at Lavietes Pavilion.