By Ed Morrone

For the Pride men’s basketball program, there hadn’t been buzz like this before a game since the Speedy Claxton-Jay Wright days.

For the first time ever in program history, the Pride hosted a ranked team last Thursday night, thrilling a frenzied crowd of 4,210 with a convincing 77-66 win over then No. 25 George Mason.

“That was a great college basketball game,” Pride head coach Tom Pecora said. “It was cool to beat a ranked team and have a chance to make some history. I’m so proud of these guys.”

Led by junior guard Loren Stokes (26 points) and four other starters who all amassed double digit scoring totals, the Pride came out with a swagger that doomed the Patriots from the get-go. The Blue & Gold was in control the entire game, and if anything, it showed the team can play with big time competition if given the chance.

“We’d love to play top 25 teams in here all the time, but they never come here,” Pecora joked. “If anyone wants to come in, we’d love to have them.”

On a more serious side, the fact that the Pride was even playing in a game like this shows how far the program has come in the last few years. After an 8-21 2002-03 season, the program was overlooked and on the verge of dying out. It took some time, but the Pride is back and performing at the top of its game, showing it does belong with the rest of the country’s big names.

“Every year it’s gotten better,” senior forward Aurimas Kieza said. “My freshman year, the arena was kind of empty and we had a lot of losses. We’ve really improved. It’s so exciting to play in these kind of games.”

The win has gotten the Pride some national chatter, with major media outlets noting the team as a major force among mid-major programs. Many think the team has performed so well this season that it still has major NCAA Tournament chances, even if it fails to win the CAA Tournament this weekend in Richmond.

“Hofstra was sharp from the get-go and they played a strong 40 minutes,” George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said. “They are as good as any team in this league.”

What will matter, though, is how the Pride finishes from here. A win over a top 25 team is certainly satisfying, but by no means is that how this team wants its season to be remembered.

Rather, the Pride hopes the breakout season leads to its name being called on Selection Sunday (March 12), which would show how really far the program has come.