FAIRFAX, Va. — Sitting in a chair in the coaches locker room after the game, UMass coach Matt McCall was an odd combination of proud and frustrated.
With Atlantic 10 leading scorer Luwane Pipkins out with a concussion, McCall had only four scholarship basketball players healthy. Despite using two former managers and a football player for long stretches after intermission, his team erased a 16-point halftime deficit and pulled ahead late in regulation at George Mason.
But the Minutemen couldn’t finish off the improbable upset. After C.J. Anderson tied the game with 5 seconds left in overtime, the Patriots hurried the ball up the floor and Ian Boyd beat the buzzer with a lay-in as UMass fell, 78-76, Saturday.
“Our guys deserved to win that game. That’s bottom line,” McCall said. “They played their hearts out and left it all out of the floor.”
UMass nearly sealed the upset in regulation. Carl Pierre made two free throws to give the Minutemen a 64-61 advantage with 10.9 seconds left. McCall, who doesn’t like to foul up three late, designed a defense to prevent Otis Livingston II from getting a look at a game-tying 3-pointer.
As the clock wound down, the Patriots had to settle for a deep 3-pointer by Goanar Mar. Unique McLean was late getting over to cover him and the referees called him for a foul with 0.9 seconds left.
Mar made all three free throws to force overtime.
UMass shook off that disappointment. The Minutemen trailed 76-72 with 36 seconds left, but Anderson made two free throws with 21 seconds left. Jaylen Franklin subbed in to foul and sent Jaire Grayer (18 points, 10 rebounds) to the line for a one-and-one.
He missed the front end and McLean grabbed the rebound.
Anderson drove again and scored through contact with 5 seconds left to tie the game 76-76 as the UMass bench howled for a three-point play opportunity. No whistle came setting up the final play.
“We needed one thing go our way, a call here, a player there,” McCall said. “Even when it wasn’t, we kept fighting and found ourselves in a tie game with the game on the line. … To be down 16 and come all the way back and have a 3-point lead with 10 seconds to go was huge.”
It looked like Mason might cruise to an easy win at halftime. Other than Pierre (15 points), who was 4-for-4 all on 3-pointers before intermission, the rest of the team was 4-for-30 as the Patriots opened a 36-20 edge.
Anderson was proud of the character his teammates showed.
“We just decided we didn’t want to lose,” Anderson said. “Seeing everyone out there being aggressive made me happy.”
UMass (11-18, 4-12 A-10) is guaranteed to play in the Atlantic 10 Tournament’s first round on March 7. The Minutemen are at Richmond, Wednesday at 7 p.m. and host Duquesne in the regular season finale on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Anderson had 21 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Malik Hines added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Livingston led Mason (14-15, 8-8) with 22 points, four rebounds and four assists.
“No one in the country would have thought we’d be in the game without Luwane Pipkins. … I talked about not quitting and fighting human nature right now,” McCall said. “Even with a game like that where two big plays didn’t go our way that easily could have, the message is get back to work.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage