Chippewas look to end road woes
Chris McCarty
The Chippewas (3-2 overall) are coming off from a 79-72 victory over Loyola-Chicago on Sunday. Senior guard David Webber scored 22 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
With Webber’s 22 points, he moves in fifth all time on the CMU scoring chart. He passes Leonard Drake with 1,338. He know has 1,365 for his career. He is 37 points behind Don Edwards, 1,402.
For the game the team took 46 free throws making 32 of them.
While George Mason (4-1) defeated Coppin State 80-44 and at Mississippi 71-70.
“They are coming off from a great win at Mississippi,” CMU Head Coach Jay Smith said. “They also beat Toledo this year at home but lost at Miami by five.”
The Patriots are riding a three game winning streak and an eight game home winning streak dating back to last year. They defeated Toledo 67-64 on Nov. 24.
“It is crazy isn’t how much home court plays a part. This just helps us for play in our conference,” Smith said.
They are 38-4 at home over the past four years.
“We have to play our game and play the way we play,” Smith said. “Of we play the style that we can, we can go against anyone. We have to be ready to play.”
Rob Anderson leads the team in scoring, putting in 17.5 per game. Jesse Young leads the team in rebounds, pulling down 8.5 a game.
“They are very talented,” Smith said. “They played Maryland last year in the NCAA Tournament.”
The Patriots have made the tournament in two-out of the last three years.
The Patriots start the 6’5” Anderson at guard; 6’5” sophomore Rauol Heinen at guard; Terrance Nixon a 6’6” forward, Young a 6’10 junior and 6’7” Jon Larranaga, the coaches son, at forward.
“They are bigger than us at guards but they are not as quick as Whitney (Robinson) is. Other than that we match-up pretty well,” Smith said.
Gerrit Brigitha is expected to return to action for the Chippewas. He missed Sunday’s game with a strained back.
“He should be ready to go,” Smith said. “He shoot around some Monday morning. We need the extra body, it helps a lot when your three deep.”
The Patriots are with out Darren Tarver who played the first two games is out because of a stress fracture in his left foot. He is out five-to-six weeks, in the two games he played this season he was averaging 24.5 points per game.
GMU shoots 50.9 percent from the field while the Chippewas are shooting 47.3 percent.
“They shoot the ball as well as anyone. They are averaging around 50 percent from the floor. They are real good shooters, we need to keep control of the glass,” Smith said.
The Chippewas have turned the ball over 77 times this season but have forced 82.
“We have to take care of the ball,” Smith said. “ We can not go five or six minutes where we don’t score points.”
Jim Larranaga, is at the helm for the Patriots. He has been at George Mason since 1997-98. He has posted a 42-22 record in his tenor.
Before GMU, he coached at Bowling Green where he posted a 102-84 record in 11 years.
“He is excited to play us,” Smith said. “We have our hands totally full.”
