FAIRFAX, Va. –– Josh Oduro scored 22 of his 32 points in the second half to help George Mason (5-5) hold off the Navy (6-3) men's basketball team, 71-65, Tuesday night at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va.

The loss brings Navy's five-game winning streak to a close.

"We didn't keep them (George Mason) off the glass like we needed to, we turned the ball over at crucial times and in the second half we never really had a key stop or three stops in a row," said Navy head coach Ed DeChellis.  "But if you had told me we would hold them to 71 points, I would think we would have a chance and we did.  Our kids fought in the last four or five minutes and thought we could get a win.

"Overall, we did some good things and we can learn from this."

Navy held a 12-11 lead, but then went nearly five minutes without a point as George Mason took a 17-12 advantage.  The lead for the Patriots would grow to 21-14 before the Mids sliced it down to a one-point game at 23-22 with 3:35 still to play in the half.  George Mason closed the frame on a 9-4 run to take a 32-26 lead at intermission.  

Turnovers hurt the Mids in the first 20 minutes of the game as they committed seven turnovers which led to 12 points by the Patriots.  Conversely, George Mason committed just three turnovers which led to four Navy points.

Greg Summers (Sr., Ocoee, Fla.) was 4-5 from the field in scoring eight first-half points, but he spent most of the last seven minutes of the half on the bench after picking up his second foul.

Navy tied the game at 37 early in the second half when John Carter Jr. (Sr., Spring Hill, Tenn.) made his second three-point field goal of the half five minutes into the stanza.  George Mason scored five points on its next two possessions as part of an 8-1 run to jump back in front, 45-38, with 12:31 still to play.  A Christian Silva (Sr., Miami, Fla.) triple drew the Mids to within 45-41 of the Patriots, but soon George Mason expanded its advantage out to double figures for the first time at 54-43 with nine minutes remaining.  

Navy closed the gap down to 62-56 with 3:38 left when Carter nailed his fourth trey of the second half and fifth of the game.  Both teams had an empty possession, then a block by Richard Njoku (Sr., Washington, D.C.) gave the ball back to the Mids.  Two offensive rebounds later, Carter was fouled with 2:19 remaining.  He made both foul shots to make the score 62-58.

The game clock ticked just under two minutes when Njoku was called for an off-the-ball foul on Oduro.  The 6-9 forward missed the first attempt but made the second to make the score 63-58.

On the other end of the floor, the Patriots were called for a foul with 1:45 showing on the clock.  That sent Carter back to the line where he made both shots to close the margin down to one possession at 63-60.

The Patriots went back to Oduro on their ensuing trip down the court and he made a mid-range jumper from the side with 1:26 left to push the lead to five points at 65-60  Carter tried an off-balance jumper from just inside the top of the key that missed with 55 seconds left.  The Patriots gathered in the board and Devonte Gaines was fouled.  He made both attempts from the line with 52.8 seconds left  to make the score 67-60.

Oduro then stole the ball to end the next Navy possession.  He was fouled with 41.6 seconds left and made just the second foul shot to make the score 68-60.

Navy didn't give up and found itself down 68-63 with 21.8 seconds left following a basket by Summers.  The Patriots called timeout before inbounding, then once they did the Mids stole the ball.  Summers took two quick steps toward the basket and made contact with the George Mason defender.  Summers was called for a charging foul to give the ball back to GMU with 16.9 seconds left.

The Patriots made a violation on the inbounds pass to give the ball back to Navy with no time ticking off the clock.  The Mids quickly converted on a Njoku dunk with 16.1 still to play to make the score 68-65.  Navy immediately fouled Oduro on the inbounds pass with 15.6 seconds left.  He made both foul shots to extend the lead to 70-65.  Carter missed an off-balanced triple that was grabbed by the Patriots.  Navy fouled Gaines with 6.7 seconds left and he made one foul shot to close out the scoring.

Turnovers proved to be a factor in the outcome as the Mids committed 15 turnovers and forced just eight.  George Mason held s 22-11 edge in points scored after turnovers.

"We turned the ball over at really critical times," said DeChellis.  "Some of them were unforced.  And we really had to concentrate on keeping them off the glass.  They (George Mason) had 10 offensive rebounds (Navy had eight), which was just enough separation.  They are tall, they are big, they are long, they are a real athletic team and we had to do a good job of keeping them off the glass."

The majority of the other team statistics were relatively balanced.

Individually, Oduro was 7-9 from the field and 8-12 from the foul line in the second half.  He ended the game shooting 11-16 from the floor, including a 2-4 effort from three-point range.  All of his free throw attempts came in the second half.

"He (Oduro) played well tonight," said DeChellis.  "Credit him.  He was really good.  We couldn't keep the ball out of his hands."

Carter was 4-8 from three-point range and 6-7 from the foul line in scoring 18 second half points.  He ended the game with a team-high 21 points.  Summers was 6-8 from the field in scoring 12 points to join Carter in double figures.

"He (Carter) made some shots and got to the free throw line (in the second half)," said DeChellis.  "I thought it was a good game by him.  Greg had a good game; he drove the ball and scored a little bit."

Navy will next be in competition Sunday when the Mids play at Marist.