FAIRFAX, Va. — There were a couple of moments late when UMass looked like it might produce a sequel to their wild 2014 come-from behind win at George Mason.

But while the Minutemen had several good looks at a would-be game-changing 3-pointers, none of them fell as UMass dropped its second in a row, 86-81, Wednesday at EagleBank Arena.

“That was a disappointing loss for us because we did some things halfway decent to give ourselves a chance to win,” said UMass coach Derek Kellogg, whose team fell to 10-5, 0-2 in the Atlantic 10. “It became a two-and-a-half minute game and in that time we didn’t come up with some loose balls and loose rebounds. They made some big plays. We had our opportunities and we made some crucial mistakes that ultimately led to them winning the basketball game.”

With just under 6 minutes left it looked liked George Mason might pull away, building its biggest lead at 69-61 after back-to-back 3-pointers.

But out of a UMass timeout, the Minutemen attacked. Rashaan Holloway, who led UMass with 17 points and 10 rebounds, put back his own miss. He grabbed two more offensive boards to keep a possession alive that C.J. Anderson eventually capped with a 3-pointer to cut UMass’ deficit to 69-66 with 4:52 remaining.

Holloway snared the rebound off a Marquise Moore miss at the other end and hit Luwane Pipkins with an outlet pass to start the fast break. As Pipkins went to the basket drawing defenders, he threw a behind-the-back pass to Anderson for an easy layup.

Another Mason miss, this one by Jalen Jenkins, led to another Holloway board and another fast break. Pipkins (16 points, five rebounds, three assists) finished this one himself to put UMass up 70-69 with 3:57 left.

GMU coach Dave Paulson’s timeout had the same effect Kellogg’s had and the pendulum swung back to the Patriots. The home team put together a 10-2 surge that made it 79-72 with 1:30 left.

Pipkins, Ty Flowers and Donte Clark (15 points, seven rebounds) all missed 3-pointers that would have given it a chance in the closing minute, and Brison Gresham missed two key free throws that helped Mason hold on.

DeJon Jarreau, who’d been quiet most of the game, came to life with six points in the final 38 seconds, but Mason made enough free throws to pull away.

“When it came down to it, we didn’t execute our plays or rebound the ball and they beat us,” Holloway said.

Moore had five of those free throws in the final two minutes and finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and five assists to lead Mason (11-4, 1-1 A-10). Senior big man Jenkins, who has regularly played well against UMass during his career, had 18 points and seven rebounds.

Teams, especially young squads, can get a false sense of confidence when shots come easy early. UMass seemed to fall victim to its early success. The Minutemen made 9 of their first 11 shots and led 31-18 with 8:46 remaining. But their shooting came back to earth and allowed to Mason to chip away and eventually pull ahead 41-39 at halftime.

UMass is at VCU, Saturday at 1 p.m. The Minutemen and Patriots play again at the Mullins Center on Jan. 28.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage

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