FAIRFAX, Va. -- Unbeaten George Mason used a second-half surge to pull away from Cornell, handing the Big Red a 99-81 defeat on Tuesday night at EagleBank Arena. The win helped the Patriots improve to 9-0, while the Big Red slipped to 5-3 and had its five-game win streak snapped.

Senior Adam Hinton led Cornell with 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, and added three blocked shots. Senior Jake Fiegen came off the bench to score 18 points, knocking down four 3-pointers, while classmate Cooper Noard added 13 points. Junior Kaspar Sepp and junior Josh Baldwin chipped in nine points apiece, with Sepp adding five rebounds and six assists. Cornell shot .491 overall and .419 from 3-point range, but turned the ball over 13 times and was out-rebounded 34-26. The Big Red was credited with 20 assists, the seventh time in eight games it has registered at least 20 assists.

Cornell went to the locker room down just 42-40 and tied it again on an Hinton layup to open the second half, but the Patriots answered with a wave of offense behind Malik Presley, Kory Mincy and Jahari Long to seize control. Presley drilled a 3-pointer to put Mason ahead for good, and back-to-back 3-pointers from Long later in the half pushed the margin to 79-64 with just over six minutes to play.

Presley paced George Mason with 17 points, hitting 7-of-10 shots and three 3-pointers. Mincy and Long scored 16 points each, with Long adding four assists. Masai Troutman finished with 14 points, while Fatt Hill had 11 and Emmanuel Kanga 10 off the bench as six Patriots scored in double figures. George Mason shot .557 from the floor, went 10-for-20 from beyond the arc and converted 21-of-25 free throws. The Patriots held a 46-30 edge in points in the paint and a 22-10 advantage in fast-break points. 

Cornell controlled large stretches of a back-and-forth first half, leading 13-7 after a Hinton 3-pointer and 25-24 after a Noard triple. Fiegen's hot start off the bench and Sepp's 3-pointer gave the Big Red a 30-30 tie with 6:18 remaining before the break. Noard's driving layup put Cornell ahead 38-37 with two minutes left before the break, but Mason closed the half on a mini 5-2 spurt, capped by a Presley 3-pointer, to take a 42-40 lead at the intermission. 

After Hinton's tying layup to start the second half, George Mason gradually pulled away. Presley and Mincy combined for eight quick points, and a Nick Ellington layup made it 54-50. Cornell stayed within two on a Baldwin layup with 15:03 remaining, but the Patriots responded with a decisive 16-6 stretch punctuated by Kanga's work inside and Long's downhill drives to build a double-digit cushion they would not relinquish. 

Fiegen, Hinton and Noard hit late 3-pointers to keep the Big Red within striking distance, trimming the deficit to 73-64 on a Hinton triple with 7:57 left, but Long answered with back-to-back 3s as Mason pushed the lead back out and coasted to the finish.