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