The College of Charleston men’s basketball team will travel to Fairfax, Va., to take on George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association in the ESPN BracketBuster game Feb. 20th at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va.  The game will be televised on ESPN2 and will air at 8 p.m.

“They have a great program year in and year out,” said Head Coach Bobby Cremins. “It’ll be an honor to go up there and play.  Jim [Larranaga] and I go way back.  We are both from the Bronx and played basketball in the Catholic School League.  We both used to play tennis together on summer recruiting trips.”

The Cougars are 2-1 in BracketBuster games. Charleston faced Western Michigan in its first Bracket Buster appearance Feb. 21, 2004, and fell to the Broncos, 78-83.  The Cougars defeated Virginia Commonwealth, 85-75, Feb. 19, 2005, in their second appearance and in their last BracketBuster game, came away with an 83-75 win over Georgia State, Feb. 18, 2006.

Charleston is 14-8 overall and 9-2 in the Southern Conference and is coming off a 90-72 win at Georgia Southern this past Saturday.  The Cougars are led by Andrew Goudelock  with 19.6 points per game.

George Mason is 15-7 overall and 10-1 in the CAA and has won its last seven in a row.  Cam Long leads the Patriots, who own the top spot in the league standings, with 13.6 points per game.

As part of the BracketBusters contract, each team agrees to a home-and-home series with its opponent, with the return game to be played in November or December of the following season. The College of Charleston will host the Patriots next season.

Charleston begins a five-game home stand Thursday, Feb. 4 against Chattanooga.  Tip-off is at 7 p.m.  For ticket information to this and all other home games visit www.CofCSports.com or call 843.953.CofC (2632).