FAIRFAX, Virginia — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore managed to cut to within four points of George Mason on Saturday (Dec. 29) at the half, despite eight first-half turnovers and shooting 33 percent from the field.

But by the end of the third, the Patriots (7-5) had made the Hawks (3-9) pay for their shooting woes, holding them to 22 percent (4-of-18) from the field and pushing the lead to 51-33. The lead would grow to as many as 26 in the fourth quarter as George Mason grabbed a 70-49 home win.

"We didn't play well tonight," head coach Fred Batchelor said. "I thought George Mason played pretty well and I thought they played harder and scrappier, which is tough. We expect to come in here and play a more talented team, a more athletic team and maybe a little bigger, but not scrappier than us. I thought that had a lot to do with the entire game and we never got into any kind of comfort zone."

Eastern Shore was outrebounded 44-43, but the Patriots made 17-of-26 from the free throw line, turned the ball over just eight times to the Hawks' 17 and shot 56 percent in the second half.

"Looking at the stats, rebounding wise it was pretty even," Batchelor said. "I'm a little concerned with the 17 turnovers and it shows how off we were. A lot of them were just unforced turnovers that were just out of rhythm for us and I thought we showed a little mental weakness at time when things didn't go our way."

The Shore did struggle to hang on to the lead with the Patriots parading to the free throw line for the first three quarters. The Hawks were assessed 20 fouls over the first three quarters and George Mason just four.

Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) led the Hawks with 19 points, four rebounds and an assist. Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) scored 10, pulled down six rebounds and added two assists and three steals, but was just 4-of-16 from the field.

"We broke down a little bit and it's disappointing, but we have to turn this around really quick. We have a game in less than 48 hours at UMBC to finish up the nonconference season. We have been on the road for seven games. So, if we can find a way to salvage this going into the new year and take care of business on Monday, we'll look back on this and hopefully we would have learned something instead of it just being a loss."

Eastern Shore will play at University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Monday (Dec. 31) at 3 p.m. They will then begin conference play at Morgan State on Saturday (Jan. 5) at 2 p.m. as part of a men's and women's doubleheader.