FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason hit eight three-pointers in the second half and got a career-high 21 points from Cam Long to defeat Radford 67-55 in non-conference men's basketball action Friday evening at the Patriot Center.

Just four of the Patriots' 12 field goals in the final 20 minutes of action came from inside the arc. George Mason (7-2) shot 72.7 percent (8-11) from three-point range in the half and concluded its first contest in almost two weeks 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) from the charity stripe.

“We played OK, but you need to play better than OK on the road against a good team like George Mason,” commented Radford head coach Brad Greenberg. “They had a terrific shooting second half, highlighted by eight threes, which enabled them to open up the game. We made a couple good runs, competed hard, but we have to be able to contest three-point shots more effectively.”

Long finished the evening 6-of-12 from the floor and missed just two of his six tries from deep to lead four Patriots in double figures. Dre Smith finished with 12 points for George Mason, while John Vaughan and Louis Birdsong each contributed 11.

After George Mason stretched its lead to 41-30 at the 17:23 mark of the second frame, Radford (3-7) slowly closed to within six (48-42) on a Chris McEachin (Norfolk, Va./Norview) layup, but Long responded with nine straight points, including two of his four treys in the period to push the Patriots' advantage back to double figures, where it stayed the rest of the way.

Martell McDuffy (Laurel, Md./DeMatha) led three Highlanders in double digits with 14 points. Artsiom Parakhouski (Minsk, Belarus) recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Joey Lynch-Flohr (Fairfax, Va./Fairfax), playing in front of friends and family added 10 points for Radford.

“I thought Art and Joey battled inside and Martell made some strong offensive plays,” said Greenberg.

Highlighted by back-to-back Vaughan three-pointers, George Mason went on a 15-1 run to grab a 21-11 lead with 6:48 left in the first half. Sparked by seven straight points from McDuffy, Radford answered the Patriots' streak with a small spurt of its own to cut the deficit to 28-25 at the break.

The Highlanders shot 40.4 percent (21-52) overall and made just four of its 16 attempts from downtown. Like George Mason, Radford went to the line 16 times, but hit only nine of its tries for a 56.3 clip.

“We took pretty good care of the basketball with only eight turnovers, but we have to be able to play a stronger second half on the road to take games down to the wire and have a chance to win.”

Radford will continue its challenging non-conference slate with a 7 p.m. tip at West Virginia, Tuesday, Dec. 23 in Morgantown, W.Va. George Mason returns to action Monday evening with a home tilt against Tulane.

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