Vaughan Is Hurt in Patriots Loss

George Mason suffered its first conference loss last night, 58-57 to Northeastern in Boston, after Patriots senior guard John Vaughan collapsed on the court after suffering a concussion late in the game.

While attempting to rebound a missed shot by teammate Darryl Monroe with the Patriots trailing 54-51 with 2 minutes 16 seconds remaining, Vaughan was inadvertently elbowed on the head by a Northeastern player and fell to the court.

The Patriots were called for a foul on the play, and Vaughan proceeded to the other end for Northeastern's free throw attempt. Vaughan appeared dazed, but remained in the game. After Nkem Ojougboh's first shot went in, Vaughan collapsed.

A team spokesman told The Washington Post that Vaughan briefly lost consciousness. After being treated for about 15 minutes, he was placed on a stretcher and taken to Beth Israel hospital for observation, accompanied by team trainer Debi Corbatto.

Vaughan was scheduled to be released late last night and return today to the Washington area, where he will be further evaluated by the team's medical staff. His status for Saturday's game at Virginia Commonwealth was unclear.

Vaughan scored 19 points to lead George Mason (14-4, 7-1 Colonial Athletic Association), which had its six-game winning streak snapped. The Patriots fell into a first-place tie in the CAA with the Huskies (12-6, 7-1) and Virginia Commonwealth.

The Huskies shot 54.8 percent, the best shooting performance of the season against the Patriots, who had held their previous six opponents below 40 percent. Matt Janning had 20 points for Northeastern, which has won the past three meetings between the teams in Boston.

After Vaughan left the game and Ojougboh made his second free throw to give the Huskies a 56-51 lead, Mason responded with a 6-0 run to take its only lead. Monroe hit a shot in the lane, Andre Cornelius had a steal and layup, and Monroe had a steal that led to a pair of free throws by Cam Long.

But Northeastern responded with a layup by Manny Adako with 25 seconds to go and George Mason was unable to get a shot off on its final possession.

· NAVY 74, HOLY CROSS 68: Chris Harris and Kaleo Kina sank free throws in the final 20 seconds to help the Midshipmen hand the visiting Crusaders their first loss in Patriot League play.

Harris, who finished with 20 points, made two free throws with 19 seconds left to give Navy a 72-68 lead.

Holy Cross missed a shot, then on the rebound fouled Kina, who was just 2 for 12 from the field. He hit both free throws.

Mark Veazey added a career-high 20 points for the Midshipmen and Adam Teague had 11. Kina scored nine points, 10 less than his season average.

Navy (14-5, 3-1) was outrebounded by Holy Cross, 49-32, but outscored the Crusaders 23-12 from the foul line and 21-0 on three-pointers. Holy Cross (8-11, 3-1) was 0 for 11 from beyond the arc.

Andrew Keister had a career-high 27 points and 14 rebounds for Holy Cross.