Davidson used a 27-10 run over 10 minutes to turn a tie game into a 17-point second half lead and cruised to an 85-65 win over James Madison in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational presented by Zebra Pen on Tuesday night in Belk Arena.
DC improved to 18-14 with its ninth win in its last 11 games. The Wildcats advance to the quarterfinals against Creighton, which defeated San Jose State 85-74 Tuesday night. JMU ends its season at 21-12.
The game was tied at 27-27 when Davidson ended the first half on a 15-7 run. The Wildcats started the second half on a 12-3 run to move ahead 52-37 five minutes into the period. DC extended the lead from there to 63-43 and JMU never got closer than 20 the rest of the way.
Jake Cohen had a productive 28 minutes for the Wildcats with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists, five blocks, and three steals. J.P. Kuhlman and Chris Czerapowicz each had 14 points in the win.
Sophomore guard Devon Moore (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) had 14 points, a season-high nine rebounds and four assists for JMU. Senior forward Denzel Bowles (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville) had 12 points and nine boards, narrowly missing his 15th double-double in his final career game.
Davidson shot 50% for the game while hitting 11-of-24 three-pointers (45.8%). JMU shot 38% for the game while being limited to 31% in the second half and 22% from the arc for the game (22%). The Dukes had 17 turnovers compared to 13 for the Wildcats, but Davidson posted a commanding 31-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
Davidson jumped out early in the contest, grabbing a quick 8-2 advantage. JMU rallied for its first lead at 12-11 with 13:50 to go. The Dukes then trailed 16-12 before their best push of the half, an 8-0 run to grab a 20-16 lead with nine minutes to go.
With the score tied at 27-27, Davidson took over as consecutive three-pointers by Brendan McKillop and De’Mon Brooks helped start a 13-3 run for the Wildcats. Freshman guard Chad Jackson (Georgetown, Ky./Scott County), who finished one shy of his season high with eight points, was fouled with 0.4 seconds remaining to cut the halftime margin to 42-34 in favor of Davidson.
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