JMU Defeats Men's Basketball, 60-52

Wednesday, January 26

Harrisonburg, Va.

7:00

Drexel University

James Madison

1/26/2011 9:58:42 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Harrisonburg, Va. – James Madison went on an 8-0 run late in the second half to take the lead and made its free throws down the stretch and defeated Drexel, 60-52. Gerald Colds led Drexel with 16 points, but the Dragons fell to 13-7 overall and 5-5 in the CAA. JMU improved to 16-6, 6-4 in league play.

Drexel took its first lead of the game on a Derrick Thomas jump shot with 16:20 to play in the contest. The game stayed a one-possession game until James Madison went on its run to take a 44-39 lead. Denzel Bowles had six points during the stretch, including a dunk on a fast break after a Drexel turnover.
The Dragons finally broke the spell on a Colds drive to the basket.
JMU's lead increased to six points after Bowles made one of two foul shots on a bench technical on the Dragons. After a defensive stop, Fouch nailed a three-pointer to cut it to 49-46. The Dukes then converted eight straight free throws and the Dragons couldn't get any closer the rest of the way.

JMU made six of first nine shots in the game and opened up an early 12-3 lead. Bowles had six points during the stretch. On the other end of the court, Drexel made just one basket in the first eight minutes. Despite the poor shooting half (28 percent), Drexel stayed in the game due in part to defense and to Colds. After their hot start, the Dukes made just four of their final 20 shots in the half. Colds, on the other hand, got hot and made three three-pointers and finished with 12 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Dragons trimmed the lead to one at intermission, 22-21, when Dartaye Ruffin scored on a put-back with just two ticks left on the clock.

Colds made three three-pointers but finished just 6-for-15 from the field. Chris Fouch added 12 points off then bench. Samme Givens had a game-high 12 rebounds and finished with nine points.

Bowles was the game-high scorer with 19 points. The senior had to work for those points as Daryl McCoy did a good job guarding Bowles. He finished just 7-for-16 from the floor. Julius Wells chipped in with 13 points. The Dukes, who came into the game averaging a league-high 73.5 points per game, were 0-for-9 from behind the three-point stripe.

Drexel is back on the road this weekend. The Dragons face CAA co-leader Hofstra in Hempstead, N.Y., at 4 p.m. for a pair of critical CAA games this week.