Old Dominion charged back from a 12-point second-half deficit to tie the game late and used a 7-0 run to take control in overtime to defeat James Madison 67-61 in a Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball game Monday afternoon at the JMU Convocation Center.
ODU improved to 7-7 overall and 2-0 in the CAA while JMU fell to 7-5 overall and 1-1 in the league.
JMU’s lead hit as large as 12 at 43-31 with 11 minutes remaining in the game following a banked three-point field goal by junior guard Devon Moore (Columbus, Ohio/Northland). The Monarchs cut the lead to eight with nine minutes to go and six with five and a half on the clock when they made their charge.
With the Dukes in front 48-42 following a layup by junior guard A.J. Davis (Columbus, Ohio/Harmony Christian), forward Chris Cooper his a pair of free throws for the Monarchs to cut it to four. After a Madison turnover, Trian Iliadis connected on a three to cut it to one at 48-47 with 4:58 remaining.
JMU went back in front by three on a pair of free throws by junior forward Andrey Semenov (St. Petersburg, Russia/Blue Ridge School). However, Kent Bazemore responded with a deep three from the right wing to knot the game at 50-50 with 2:41 remaining. Until that point, JMU had been in front since it was 11-10 at the 12:46 mark of the first half.
JMU senior forward Julius Wells (Toledo, Ohio/Libbey) and ODU center Nick Wright each hit 1-of-2 free throws to keep the game tied. With time winding down, Semenov drew a foul on Cooper with 32.2 seconds remaining and hit both free throws for a 53-51 lead.
Bazemore followed with a jumper in the lane with 6.2 seconds remaining to again tie the score. Wells drove the left sideline and put up a deep contested three. Semenov tried to tip the miss underneath, but the ball rattled around the rim momentarily and fell out at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
Madison struck first in the extra session on a jumper by Semenov and still led 57-55 after a jumper by Wells before the decisive run by the Monarchs. Iliadis hit a jumper in the lane and converted the three-point play with a free throw to give ODU its first lead since the early 11-10 score.
A steal by Iliadis led to a Bazemore fastbreak dunk and another steal by Donte Hill resulted in two free throws for Iliadis to complete the quick 7-0 spurt that put ODU ahead 62-57 with 2:52 remaining.
The teams traded empty possessions until Moore followed his own miss with a layup to make it 62-59 with 1:29 remaining. The Monarchs, who struggled most of the game from the foul line, hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to wrap up the 67-61 triumph.
Senior guard Humpty Hitchens led JMU with his second straight 20-point effort with a game-high 23 points and three steals while hitting five of his 10 attempts from the arc to give him 11 treys in the last two games. He played a career-best 43 minutes.
Moore added 11 points and a season-high eight rebounds for JMU. Semenov and Davis posted eight apiece. Semenov matched his career high with five assists.
Iliadis topped his career best with 22 points to lead the Monarchs while hitting 5-of-11 attempts from the arc. He added seven boards, three assists and two steals. Bazemore finished with 14 points, all in the second half, and Wright added 10. Bazemore also posted seven boards and a game-high eight assists.
ODU outscored JMU 36-18 overall since JMU’s 43-31 lead at the midpoint of the second half. The Monarchs held a commanding 50-31 advantage in rebounding, including 22 offensive boards to just seven for the Dukes. Despite the discrepancy, second-chance points in the game were even at 9-9.
JMU shot 38 percent for the game but hit just eight of its 28 attempts from the arc (29 percent), including three misses in the extra session. ODU shot 36 percent for the game, including a 48 percent second-half mark after hitting just 8-of-32 (25 percent) in the first period. The Monarchs out-shot the Dukes from long range by hitting nine of their 20 attempts (45 percent).
Madison led 30-22 at the break. ODU cut that margin to within four at 35-31 with 16:30 on the clock. The Dukes then ripped off an 8-0 run with a jumper by Moore, a three by Wells and the banked-in trey by Moore for the 43-31 lead with 11 minutes to go.
At the start of the contest, JMU grabbed an early 6-2 lead on a pair of threes by Hitchens. ODU fought back to grab the lead at 11-10 on a trey by Iliadis before the Dukes went back in front on a long jumper by Hitchens.
Madison sat in front at 15-13 when it started to pull away. A third trey by Hitchens, a putback dunk by freshman forward Enoch Hood (Norfolk, Va./Booker T. Washington) and a three-pointer by Davis made it an 8-0 run and a 23-13 lead for the Dukes with 6:16 remaining.
ODU trailed by six at 28-22 after a layup by Nick Wright with 1:34 remaining but Moore found Davis for an alley-oop dunk on the final possession with five seconds remaining to put JMU up 30-22 at the break.
JMU shot 41 percent in the first half compared to 25 percent for the Monarchs. ODU held a commanding 27-16 edge in rebounds, including 15 offensive boards. However, JMU actually led in second-chance points for the half at 7-5.
Hitchens led all scorers with 16 points in the first half. Iliadis had nine for ODU while Cooper had five points and seven boards in the half. ODU made just two of its seven free throws in the half.
JMU will have a quick turnaround for its next league contest as the Dukes travel to William and Mary for a 7 p.m. meeting on Wednesday night. The Tribe defeated the Dukes in two of three meetings a season ago with the lone Madison victory coming in Williamsburg at Kaplan Arena.
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