Sherrod Wright's leaning 3-pointer swished through at the buzzer Saturday, capping a game-ending 18-3 run for George Mason and giving the Patriots a 67-64 victory against Richmond.
Wright scored 22 points and the Patriots (7-4) beat the Spiders for the first time in six tries at the Richmond Coliseum in the opening game of the Governor's Holiday Hoops Classic.
Darien Brothers scored 20 to lead Richmond (9-4), whose five-game winning streak was snapped.
Richmond led 61-49 after Derrick Williams' dunk with 7:35 left, then went cold. Six different Patriots scored the rest of the way, with Wright and Patrick Holloway hitting 3s, while Richmond managed just one field goal - an acrobatic put-back flip by Cedrick Lindsay to tie it at 64 with 19.8 seconds left.
The Patriots brought the ball upcourt, and Richmond fouled with 5.8 seconds left. George Mason retained possession, inbounded the ball and found Wright at the right side of the key for the inning shot.
It was his fourth 3-pointer of the game.
The Patriots outscored Richmond 11-3 to start the second half, closing a 41-32 deficit to 44-43.
After a media timeout, Greg Robbins' putback of Kendall Anthony's fast-break layup try sparked a 15-4 run for the Spiders. Robbins scored six in the run, Anthony hit a 3-pointer and Brothers scored twice.
The teams swapped baskets, and George Mason scored nine in a row before a media timeout with 3:37 left.
The Spiders came out lighting it up from 3-point range, hitting eight of their first 10, with Brothers accounting for five of them. His last two came during a 9-3 burst that put them in front 30-24.
George Mason, which made its first four 3s, trailed 41-32 at the half despite shooting 54.4 (12 of 22) percent. Richmond, which got its first 2-point basket 4:27 before the half, shot 57.1 percent (12 of 21).
