So much for the Tulane basketball team’s status as the Division I leader in field goal percentage.
Ahead of George Mason 40-29 at halftime, the Green Wave had an incredibly hard time finding the basket in the second half, losing 69-66 on Friday afternoon in front of a disappointed crowd of 1,645 at Devlin Fieldhouse. The Wave failed to score at all in the final 3:12 as a 66-64 lead disappeared, and its last hope ended when Jaylen Forbes was off target on a deep 3-pointer in the last five seconds before the Patriots corralled the rebound.
Missing an opportunity for a quality win after loading up on mostly lightweight opponents, the Wave (8-3) scored 10 fewer points than in any other game this season. George Mason (10-2), ranked 82nd in the NET, continued its surprising run under first-year coach Tony Skinn after being picked 10th in the preseason Atlantic 10 Conference poll.
“It’s tough,” Tulane coach Ron Hunter said. “We just settled and took bad shots, something we hadn’t done all year. That was by far the worst we’ve played offensively. I know we missed seven or eight lay-ups. It was just one of those days when for whatever reason we didn’t have it for 40 minutes.”
Tulane, which had shot better than 50 percent in every game but two, shot a season-worst 34.5 percent, running into problems against George Mason’s switching zones. Forward Kevin Cross, coming off back-to-back 20-point-plus triple-doubles, managed only 10 points and attempted only eight shots. Forbes, who had found his shooting form in the last week, went 3 of 14.
His final miss came after he made a steal and called Tulane’s final timeout with 12 seconds left while sitting on the floor.
“It was a pretty good look,” Hunter said. “We’ve seen him make those before.”
The Wave hardly made anything down the stretch. Collin Holloway (1 of 5) missed a wide open 3-pointer from the corner that would have given the Wave a 5-point lead under the 4:00 mark. Sion James clanked a 3 after George Mason went in front 67-66, and Tre’ Williams bricked a pair of free throws with 1:35 left with the same score. Kolby King then missed a tying 3 from the corner.
James led Tulane with 17 points and five assists, but he hit only 5 of 13 shots. Forbes added 14 points. King contributed 12 points and seven rebounds, while Cross had nine boards.
Amari Kelly and Ronald Polite paced George Mason with 16 points. Darius Maddox scored 15.
The tenor changed early in the second half. Neither team scored for two minutes, but Maddox hit a 3-pointer in transition and sank three free throws after being fouled on the next possession. Tulane went back up by 8, but the Patriots scored nine in a row to go ahead 45-44 and force Hunter to call a timeout with 13:08 left.
It was anyone’s game after that.
“We’ve got to be better coming out the second half,” Hunter said. “The same thing happened the other day against Southern.”
George Mason went up 56-51 with 7:29 left on Kelly’s power move, Tulane responded with three quick treys, including two in a row by Sion James as it regained the lead, 60-56.
The Patriots hit back-to-back 3s to go ahead 62-60, but King converted a 4-point play after being fouled and Cross hit a pair of free throws to give the Wave the lead 66-64 with 3:13 left.
Tulane did not score again.
The Wave was up by 11 at the break only because of its defense. Racing back after Williams had his lay-up attempt blocked, Forbes stripped Kelly as he went up for what he thought was his own run-out lay-up. Seconds later, Williams sank a 3-pointer.
The Wave held the Patriots to 34.8-percent shooting in the first half while forcing 10 turnovers. It also benefited from a pair of fortunate 3-pointers — one that banked in from Forbes as he tried to draw a foul and another from Williams that hit the base of the backboard and rolled in.
“It was two really good teams playing, and they ended up winning,” Hunter said. “We lost to a good team, but I wish we would have played better.”
Tulane is off until hosting crosstown NAIA opponent Dillard for the first time since 1976 next Friday at 1 p.m.