Marshall Hands Dukes its Second Straight Loss

The Dukes lost their second straight game, both on the road, as they fell to C-USA opponent Marshall 67-63 in a non-conference men's basketball game on Tuesday night. 


The Dukes let a second half lead get away from them. They let a six point lead slip away with 15 minutes to go. It as a back-and-forth battle from that point. Marshall took its first lead of the game on a three by Shaquille Johnson at 49-47 with 10 minutes to go. JMU was within one at 60-59 with 3:18 to go after a pair of free throws by junior forward Rayshawn Goins. 


However, the Thundering Herd responded with a key 5-0 push to make it 65-59 with 1:09 remaining.  A layup by Baines started the key stretch.  Johnson then hit 1-of-2 free throws and Johnny Thomas added a layup for the six-point advantage.


The Dukes responded with a jumped with 55 seconds left. The Dukes forced a turnover with a steal by Andrev Semenov and Devon Moore hit a layup with 47 seconds to make it a two-point game at 65-63.


Marshall ran down the shot clock and DeAndre Kane missed a three pointer but Marshall grabbed the offensive board knocked down its free throws. 


JMU outshot Marshall 40.6% to 39.3% while the Herd made 5-of-14 threes (35.7%) compared to 5-for-17 (29.4%) for the Dukes.  MU had a significant advantage at the charity stripe, hitting 18-of-26 while JMU had just 11 opportunities, making six. 


JMU will next be in action on Saturday at 7 p.m. with a non-conference game at Radford.


-MO

JMU Travels to Marshall

It took them a little bit long than expected to get to Marshall, because the bus caught some low flames, but the Dukes will start a home and home game against Marshall tonight, the first being in Huntington, WV. The Dukes will look to bounce back from a buzzer beating loss to CAA opponent Georgia State. The Dukes had their longest winning streak since 1993-94 snapped at six games, but will look to rebuild tonight. Tip-off at 7 p.m.
Here are some team previews:

The Dukes are led by senior forward Denzel Bowles, who posted his fifth double-double in six games in the Georgia State loss.  He is averaging 18.4 points, and 9.0 rebounds per game and is shooting a team high 67.5% from the field, which ranks eighth nationally in NCAA Division I.  Junior forward Rayshawn Goins is averaging 14.9 points, and 8.0 rebounds per game. Redshirt sophomore Devon Moore leads the team in assists with 3.6 per game, and also contributes 11.9 points per game.


The Herd is led by redshirt freshman guard DeAndre Kane, who is averaging 17.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game.  Senior forward Tirrell Baines is cleaning up the boards with a team high 7.6 rebounds per game, while also contributing 12.9 points per game.  Junior guard Shaquille Johnson rounds out the backcourt for the Herd.  He is averaging 11.4 points per game and has also tallied 12 steals on the season.  Junior swingman Dago Pena is a player to watch who leads the team in three-point percentage, shooting 45.9% from behind the arc and recording 11.0 points per game.




-MO

Dukes Lose on Last Second Shot

From the Breeze...

The JMU men's basketball team opened its Colonial Athletic Association schedule on Saturday with a heartbreaking 64-63 loss at the hands of the Georgia State Panthers in Atlanta.

JMU (6-2, 0-1 in the CAA) took a 63-62 lead with 3.5 seconds left in the game after redshirt sophomore guard Devon Moore made one of his two free throws. On the ensuing possession, GSU redshirt junior guard Jihad Ali recovered a loose ball and laid the ball in as time expired, giving the Panthers the win.

The loss snaps JMU's six game winning streak, the program's longest since 1994. The final basket was somewhat unlucky for JMU, as the Dukes' redshirt sophomore forward Andrey Semenov blocked a Panther's shot with one second left, knocking the ball straight to Ali for the easy basket.

JMU had led 62-58 but was nearly held scoreless for the final three minutes of the game. The team had its worst shooting performance of the year, going 31 percent from the field while GSU shot 45 percent.

JMU senior forward Denzel Bowles had a game high 21 points and 14 rebounds for his fifth double-double on the season. Junior forward Julius Wells added 15 points for the Dukes while junior forward Rayshawn Goins had nine points and 12 rebounds.

For Georgia State, Brandon McGee and Josh Micheaux had 15 and 12 points respectively. Ali had eight points and 10 rebounds.

The Dukes will play Marshall University this Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Huntington W.Va. JMU will not have another CAA matchup until Jan. 3, when the team hosts Northeastern University.

-MO

Thoughts from Monday's Press Conference

I attended the typical Monday press conference at Ham's Restaurant today, but this time it was all about basketball as both the women's and men's head coaches were in attendance. Here are some memorable statements by both.

BROOKS

"We're passing around a bug better than we are a basketball." - JMU women's head coach Kenny Brooks on how the flu is infecting his team.

"Duke is probably not 17 points better than us, but it was a good experience." - Referring to the 75-58 loss courtesy of the No. 5 Duke University Blue Devils

"Lauren [Jimenez] has a contest with Denzel Bowles to see who can make the most double-doubles this season."

"Courtney [Hamner] probably played one of the best games she's ever played, despite her, excuse the expression, looking like death Saturday. Her face was about as pale as her hair." - Referring to the flu Hamner was down with Saturday and the same illness that kept senior guard Dawn Evans from playing Sunday against Liberty University.

"Tarik [Hislop] had to handle the game instead of sitting back and watching Dawn." - Referring to Evans being out sick and sophomore guard Hislop taking over her role.

"If it was a CAA championship game, we probably would have played Dawn."

"Having a week off is like the best Christmas present I could ask for right now. Exam week is a coach's favorite week."

"I thought they did a good job of not retaliating. But when we got into the locker room they told me every little thing that happened." - Referring to the rough play by Liberty in the final minutes of the game and the questionable calls by the referees.

BRADY

"We got hurt by the speed of their guards." - JMU men's basketball head coach Matt Brady referring to the game against Longwood University.

"Georgia State's height poised an issue for Goins, it's probably the first time all season I have seen him struggle like that."

"We made enough mistakes that we could have lost the game in regulation." - Referring to the heartbreaking 64-63 buzzer-beating loss to GSU.

"Devon [Moore] had three turnovers in 44 seconds. You can't win games with that."

"Oh, we are completely non-prejudicial. We will turn over the ball in any set!"

"I wouldn't use the word tough to describe us."

"I have a lot of faith in Humpty [Hitchens] as a player, all I want him to do is shoot and feed to the post. I don't want him to feel like he has to be a playmaker too."

-CH

Courtney Hamner leads team as Dukes defeat Liberty Flames

Story by Emmie Cleveland in the Dec. 6 issue of The Breeze

The JMU women's basketball team was missing its leading scorer but still pulled out a win over Liberty University at the Convocation Center yesterday.

Senior guard Dawn Evans, who averages 23 points-per-game, was out with the flu. She sat on the bench in her warm-ups as her team defeated the Flames 54-51.

"We knew that individuals needed to step up," said senior guard Courtney Hamner. "When she's not there, it's definitely a big loss, so we knew we had to step up offensively big time."

Hamner played 36 minutes and led JMU (5-3) with 14 points. She failed to mention, however, that she has been fighting the same bug that benched Evans.

"If Dawn were healthy today, Courtney wouldn't have played," JMU head coach Kenny Brooks said. "Courtney's got the flu. She's got the flu terribly. We held her out of practice yesterday with the anticipation that she wouldn't play and Dawn would play. And then we got the news Dawn couldn't play and Courtney stepped up."

Sophomore Tarik Hislop also helped compensate for Evans' absence, as she took over her usual position at point guard and added 12 points.

The game was closely fought, with five lead changes and the score tied 11 times.

With 12 minutes remaining, the Dukes went on a 13-2 run, giving them their biggest lead of the game at 53-42. Liberty answered immediately with nine consecutive points, putting the game within a basket with less than two minutes on the clock.

According to Liberty head coach Carey Green, an unlikely freshman guard won the game for JMU.

"There's an X factor, and there's no question the X factor was Debbie Smith," Green said. "You look at her stats, and she's not in the stat book, basically, and here's a girl that came in and scored five points and got three rebounds.

"And I think everybody else is playing their game and doing what they're supposed to do, and you have an X factor come in there and made a difference."

Brooks said he put Smith, along with freshman guard Kirby Burkholder, through boot camp this past week in practice to toughen them up.

"I think she learned a lot," Brooks said, "and today she was able to come out and was able to help us tremendously. I'm happy for her because she's our future... She's very talented, it's just a matter of her getting comfortable, and I think she took steps in doing that today."

Senior center Lauren Jimenez was JMU's third player with points in double figures. She added 12 and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

"I feel like I can do better," she said. "I mean, yeah, I was consistent. I'm hitting my average... but I feel like my rebounds should go up. Me being able to score down low is going to open a lot up for the guards or other post players."

JMU will continue play with their next two games on the road against Middle Tennessee State University on Sunday and Monmouth University, Saturday Dec. 18.

-CH

JMU Trails at Halftime

Dukes down 41-36 at the break...

Longwood went up by as many as 8 at 39-31 but the Dukes came back with a 5-0 run to keep them close. Rayshawn Goins and Humpty Hitchens led the Dukes with 9 points and Denzel contributed 8 points and 8 rebounds. Expect him to get a double-double Aaron Mitchell led the Lancers with 16 points.

Devon Moore is in foul trouble with 3 fouls so Brady will have to monitor that in the second half.

Go DUKES!


-MO

Dukes Travel for In-State Battle

From JMUsports.com....

James Madison (5-1) will start a five-game run of road contests on Wednesday, December 1 at 7 p.m. taking on the Longwood Lancers (3-4) in Willett Hall in Farmville, Va.

The game will mark the sixth time the two teams have played since their first meeting in the 2004-05 season.  JMU leads the all-time series 3-2 with each team winning every game on its home court.  The Dukes have not won in Farmville. 

The game also represents the first live televised sporting event in Longwood's history.  Fox College Sports (FCS) Atlantic (available DirecTV 617/623 and various other cable providers, including Harrisonburg Comcast channel 262) will air the game live at 7 p.m. MASN will re-air the game immediately afterwards at 9 p.m.

The Dukes are in the midst of a five-game winning streak after playing five games in eight days.  Following a three day rest, JMU will look to make it six in a row for the first time since a seven-game streak in the 1993-94 season, which was the last time the Dukes won the CAA and went to the NCAA Tournament.

JMU senior forward Denzel Bowles had a productive and impressive week.  Bowles led the Dukes to a 4-0 week, recording three double-doubles, earning MVP honors in the Harrisonburg Subregional of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic, and setting a JMU record for free-throw percentage.  He averaged 18.3 points, 9.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game as JMU earned wins over Princeton, Presbyterian, Bucknell, and Eastern Michigan.  In last Saturday's game versus Eastern Michigan, Bowles went a perfect 13-13 from the line setting a new JMU record for free-throw percentage in a game, which was also a new Convocation Center record.  Bowles' performance also earned him CAA Co-Player of the Week honors.

The Lancers are coming off a Monday night loss to Fairleigh Dickinson.  The Lancers dropped their first home game of the season after starting 3-0 at home with wins over UVA-Wise, Columbia, and Montreat.  The Lancers and Dukes have each suffered a loss this season against an AP Top 25 opponent.  JMU lost its season opener at No. 3 Kansas State, while Longwood also lost its season opener to No. 4 Kansas.

Longwood is shooting 47.2% from the field this season and is averaging 20.0 assists per game.  The Lancers are led by junior center Antwan Carter, who is averaging a double-double so far with 15.6 points and 11.0 rebounds per game.  Senior guard Aaron Mitchell is also pitching in with 13.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game.  Leading the team in assists with 5.0 per game is junior guard Jeremiah Bowman, who has also tallied 11.7 points per game and nine steals on the season.

JMU is led this season by the frontcourt duo of Denzel Bowles and Rayshawn Goins.  Bowles is averaging 17.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game and is shooting a team best 67.9% from the field, which also ranks ninth nationally.  Junior forward Goins leads the team in rebounding with 8.0 per game and also averages 16.2 points per game. He was also named to the CBE Subregional All-Tournament Team.

The Dukes' backcourt is led by redshirt sophomore Devon Moore, who is averaging 12.5 points and 3.5 assists on the season.  Junior guard Humpty Hitchens has tallied 8.5 points per game this season and a team high seven steals throughout six games. 

Following the Longwood game the Dukes will travel to Atlanta, Ga. to take on the Georgia State Panthers in the GSU Sports Arena on Saturday, December 4 at 2 p.m.  The game will open CAA conference play for both teams and will be the only league game until Jan. 3.

-MO