HAMPTON, Va. – The Pirates of Hampton University played two solid halves of defense Thursday night on their way to a 50-44 victory over the Patriots of George Mason University at the HU Convocation Center. The Pirates improve to 1-1 on the season while the Patriots suffer their first loss to the season. Hampton’s win over George Mason tonight was the first in the series between the two teams.

 

“Our guys played really well tonight, and they followed the game plan from the beginning of the game, which was all around playing good defense and we were able to put together a great defensive game plan tonight,” said Pirates head coach Kevin Nickelberry.

 

In the first half, the Pirates came out ready to play and they showed that on the defensive side of the ball as they forced 12 turnovers and scored six points off those turnovers. The Pirates started the game on an 11-2 run, before the Patriots would get things moving and go on a 6-0 run of their own. George Mason came as close as one point of the Pirates in the first half. Hampton was led by freshmen Kwame Morgan (Largo, Md.), who scored seven of the Pirates’ 21 points in the first half. The Pirates also scored an impressive 15 points off the bench and it proved to be enough, as the Pirates went into the half leading by a score of 21-18.

 

In the second half the Patriots seemed a little more poised for the challenge, but the Pirates found ways to keep them at bay. Hampton (1-1) was able to score 16 points in the paint and 10 off the bench in the second half alone. The Pirates defense also forced 11 George Mason turnovers and snatched seven steals all in the second half.

 

“We were trying to give them as many different looks as possible, because they are such a great-coached team and as long as we were able to give them some different looks,” said Nickelberry.

 

George Mason (2-1) tied the game up three different times, but the Patriots were never able to take the lead and that was mostly due to the Pirates’ bench, which scored 22 points on the night.

 

“Our freshman, Morgan, (Milade Lola-) Charles, and (Christopher) Tolson – they did an outstanding job for us because they give us a lot of energy and came up big for us tonight, and I don’t know if this is something that we can expect from them every night, but I am very pleased,” said Nickelberry

 

The Pirates were led by Morgan, who scored a team-high nine points and he was followed up by senior Donte Harrison (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and junior Michael Freeman (Alexandria, Va.), who scored eight points each. The defensive play of Hampton caused the Patriots to cough up 23 turnovers, and the Pirates snatched nine steals.

 

Hampton also had six blocks from the big men down low. George Mason was able to outrebound the Pirates 42-31, in part because the Patriots missed so many shots.

 

George Mason was led by leading score Louis Birdsong, who finished the game with 15 points and eight rebounds and assisting him was Darryl Monroe, who recorded a double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) on the night.

 

The Patriots shot 33 percent on the night and 57 percent from the charity stripe on the night, while Hampton shot just 37 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the free throw line. The Pirates’ performance was enough to left them past their first CAA opponent of the season.   

 

The Pirates will be back in action on Saturday, when they travel to Towson, Md. to face the Tigers of Towson University. Tip-off is slated for 5 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.