Junior guard Ron Curry poured in a game-high 25 points and James Madison shot better than 60 percent as a team en route to an 86-75 victory over Elon in Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball play on Saturday night at Alumni Gymnasium.
The Dukes improved to 16-11 on the year and 9-5 in CAA play while the Phoenix fell to 11-16 and 3-11 with the defeat. JMU swept its three-game road trip and has now won four in a row away from Harrisonburg, improving to 6-2 in CAA road games this season. It is only the second time in CAA history that the Dukes won six road games in conference play, and the first in 23 years when they went 6-1 in 1991-92.
Madison shot a season-high 60.9 percent (28-46) for the game, which marked the first time since Jan. 5, 2011, that it shot over 60 percent. That shooting effort included a remarkable 77.8 percent (14-18) shooting clip in the second half. The Dukes were on point from beyond the arc, knocking down 55 percent (11-20) of their 3-point tries, marking the third time this season the team reached double-digit treys. They also converted 79.2 percent (19-24) from the free throw line.
Curry’s 25-point night came on 7-for-12 shooting, including 3-for-5 shooting from range and 8-for-8 from the line. He also had four assists in the triumph. Three other Dukes recorded double-figure point totals as sophomore forward Yohanny Dalembert was a rebound shy of a double-double with 15 points (5-6 FG) and nine rebounds, while also making three assists and two blocks. Freshman guard Joey McLean recorded his fourth straight 10+ point outing with 11 points and three steals and redshirt sophomore forward Dimitrije Cabarkapa scored a career-high 10 points off the bench on 4-for-6 shooting.
Three others combined to score 23 points as sophomore guard Jackson Kent and junior guard Winston Grays both had eight points while sophomore forward Paulius Satkus added seven second-half points. Grays also dished out four assists to tie Curry for team-high honors.
The Dukes won the rebounding war 31-27 and despite having just four offensive rebounds, scored eight second-chance points in a game which they led for over 34 minutes.
Elon shot 42.9 percent (27-63) from the floor and just 30 percent (9-30) from beyond the arc while going 80 percent (12-15) from the stripe. The Phoenix had four players score in double figures, led by Elijah Bryant’s 18 points and six assists. Austin Hamilton produced 16 points and five dimes and Dmitri Thompson had 14 points while Kevin Blake added 10 for EU.
The game stayed tight in the early going and Elon built its largest lead of the night at 15-10 with 13:11 to go but JMU erased the deficit with a 12-2 run, which saw JMU hit four triples, two by Cabarkapa, to give it a 22-17 lead with 10:52 left. JMU stretched the lead to double digits at 33-23 with 5:50 to play but a 7-0 surge by Elon trimmed the lead back to 33-30 with 2:17 to go. The Dukes scored five of the half’s final seven to take a 38-32 lead at halftime.
The Dukes shot lights out in the second half, making their first nine shots and not missing a field goal for over nine minutes but the Phoenix kept the game from getting away with strong shooting as well. Teams virtually went bucket for bucket until Dalembert scored four straight points in 43 seconds to give JMU a 70-61 advantage with 8:27 left. The lead stretched back to 10 at 73-63 but Elon came back with five consecutive from Bryant to cut JMU’s advantage in half to 73-68 with 3:48 to go.
The Dukes answered with a big 8-0 run over 72 seconds, sparked by threes from Curry and Kent that gave them an 81-68 lead, their largest of the game, with 2:07 remaining. Elon never drew closer than nine the rest of the way. The 86 points was the most in a road game by JMU since Nov. 19, 2012, when they tallied 88 at Duquesne.
James Madison returns home Wednesday, Feb. 18, to face Drexel at 7 p.m. as it will play three of its final four regular-season games at the JMU Convocation Center.
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Chris Graham
