Dragons Fall in CAA Opener at JMU, 78-67

Saturday, December 31

Harrisonburg, Va.

2:00

Drexel University

6-8, 0-1CAA

James Madison

3-11, 1-0CAA

Drexel

James Madison

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

12/31/2016 3:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Harrisonburg, Va. -- The Drexel men's basketball team opened the Colonial Athletic Association schedule with a 78-67 loss at James Madison on Saturday afternoon. JMU's Jackson Kent scored a career-high 30 points to lead the Dukes (3-11) to the win. Drexel fell to 6-8 on the season.

The Dragons struggled taking care of the ball in their first league game under head coach Zach Spiker. Drexel turned the ball over 21 times, which tied a season-high. That led to 22 JMU points off turnovers. The Dragons also had difficulties containing the Dukes on the defensive end. JMU shot 56 percent in the game, including a sizzling 61 percent in the second half to pull away and pick up their second straight win.

Miles Overton led Drexel with 14 points. He was 3-for-8 from deep in 33 minutes off the bench. Sammy Mojica added 13, including the first 10 points of the second half for the Dragons as they cut the JMU lead down to two points. Mojica had a pair of treys during the run, the first of which gave him 100^th three-pointers in his career at Drexel. JMU extended the lead to 10 before the Dragons made another run to trim the lead to four once again. It stayed a two possession game until Kent hit a pair of free throw with just under eight minutes remaining. The Dragons could not get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Drexel's only lead of the first half came on the opening bucket of the game when Kurk Lee came up with a steal and a breakaway lay-up. The Dukes made five of their first six shots and opened up an 11-point lead late in the opening half. Drexel was able to chip away, in part due to a 5-0 run late, and trailed 33-28 at intermission. The Dragons trailed by five despite the fact that they turned the ball over 10 times in the opening frame.

Lee also had 13 points for the Dragons, but committed nine turnovers in the game. Rodney Williams picked up a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. He was 6-for-6 from the line.

Kent finished his career night 12-for-17 from the floor. He also had four three pointers in six attempts. Paulius Satkus added 14 points, while Joey McLean scored 13 points and had four steals.

Drexel will return home to face Northeastern on Monday afternoon. The Dragons and Huskies will tip off at approximately 4:30 after the conclusion of the women's game against Towson at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.