James Fields had 21 points and Georgia State led James Madison to one field goal over a 13-minute stretch in the second half to record a 74-58 Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball win Monday night at the GSU Sports Arena.
JMU fell to 9-11 overall and 2-7 in CAA play while GSU improved to 14-6 overall and 6-3 in the league while winning its 10th straight game at home.
Georgia State led by three at the break and held a 43-38 advantage with 15:49 remaining after a three-point basket by JMU freshman Arman Marks (Louisville, Ky./Eastern) when the Panthers began to slowly pull away.
GSU reeled off the next eight points to move ahead 51-38 at the 10:30 mark. Surrounding three free throws by junior center Gene Swindle (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep), the Panthers kept up the pressure and ran the advantage to 61-41 with 7:16 to go.
Marks finally hit another three at the 6:43 mark to make it over nine minutes between field goals for the Dukes. But JMU got no closer than 16 as GSU cruised to the 74-58 triumph.
Fields finished with 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting along with eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Josh Micheaux had a double-double with 15 points, 11 boards and six assists. Eric Buckner had 13 points and eight rebounds to go with six blocks.
Senior guard Humpty Hitchens (Chillicothe, Ohio/Chillicothe) led JMU with 15 points. Junior guard A.J. Davis (Columbus, Ohio/Harmony Community), who was named CAA Co-Player of the Week earlier in the day, added 11 points and seven boards. Marks added 10 points.
GSU shot 45 percent from the floor and held a 42-36 advnatage in rebounds. The Panthers also blocked a JMU opponent-high 11 shots and recorded 14 steals. JMU was held to 35 percent shooting while hitting eight of its 26 attempts (31 percent) from the arc.
JMU trailed 8-6 in the early minutes of the contest when Hitchens and Davis hit back-to-back threes. Two free throws by Davis and another trifecta for Hitchens made it an 11-0 run for a 17-8 advantage for the Dukes.
Madison sat in front 21-13 at the 7:39 media timeout with GSU shooting 25 percent (5-for-20). However, the Panthers came out of the timeout with a quick 8-0 burst to tie the score. They kept the run alive to make it a 14-0 run to take a 27-21 lead at the 4:36 mark, holding JMU scoreless for three and a half minutes.
The run ended with a three-pointer by Semenov and JMU fought back to tie the score at 28-28. Jihad Ali hit a three with eight seconds remaining to give the Panthers a 33-30 lead at the half. Fields led GSU with 13 first-half points while Hitchens had 10 for the Dukes.
JMU is at home Thursday to host William and Mary at 8 p.m. The game will be televised on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and The Comcast Network Philadelphia. It will be held as part of a women’s and men’s doubleheader with the JMU women hosting Georgia State at 5 p.m.
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