Old Dominion made 13 of 25 three-point attempts and dominated the glass 47-29 to earn an 80-71 Colonial Athletic Association win over James Madison University at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va., on Thursday night.
ODU won its fourth straight and for the eighth time in its last night games to improve to 15-9 overall and pull into a four-way tie atop the CAA at 10-2. JMU dropped its third straight to fall to 10-14 and 3-9 in the league.
Senior forward Chris Cooper grabbed a career-high and Ted Constant Center record 22 rebounds while adding 10 points for the double-double. Senior guard Kent Bazemore led six Monarchs in double figures with 19 points, adding five rebounds, two steals and an assist. Dimitri Batten made four three-pointers for 13 points and Donte Hill and Trian Iliadis added 11 points each while Nick Wright contributed 10 points.
Redshirt junior guard A.J. Davis (Columbus, Ohio/Harmony Community School) led all players with 23 points, adding five rebounds four steals and three assists. Redshirt junior forward Andrey Semenov (St. Petersburg, Russia/Blue Ridge School) made a career-best six three pointers while scoring 22 points and grabbing a team-best seven rebounds.
Old Dominion outrebounded the Dukes 47-29, including grabbing 18 offensive boards. Cooper’s 22 rebounds were tied for the sixth-most in conference history and was the first 20-rebound performance by a Madison opponent since Derrick Lewis pulled down an opponent record 23 for Maryland on Jan. 28, 1987.
ODU scored 15 of the game’s first 21 points to run out to an early 15-6 lead. The Monarchs stretched the lead out to a first-half high at 24-11 on a three by Bazemore with 11:42 remaining in the half. The Dukes whittled the lead down to three points at 26-23 by holding ODU without a basket for the next 6:17 before Bazemore added another three to bookmark the JMU run.
Madison went into the half down nine at 39-30, but gave up a 19-9 run to open up the second half to fall behind by a game-high 19 points with 12:51 remaining. The Dukes got as close as four points after a pair of free throws by freshman guard Arman Marks (Louisville, Ky./Eastern), but ODU made five of seven free throws down the stretch to hold off the last rally.
Senior guard Humpty Hitchens (Chillicothe, Ohio/Chillicothe) had a game-high seven assists, but shot 0-for-9 from three-point range. He added nine points, three rebounds and one steal.
After three straight games on the road, JMU returns to Harrisonburg on Saturday at 2 p.m. for a Colonial Athletic Association game against Delaware. It will be the Dukes’ fourth straight CAA game on TV with coverage on The Comcast Network Mid-Atlantic and Philadelphia.
NOTES: ODU’s six players in double figures were the first time an opponent had that many since William & Mary did it on Jan. 8, 2011…Semenov and Davis were the first JMU duo to score 20-plus points since Davis and Hitchens each did it against Robert Morris on Nov. 22, 2011…Redshirt junior forward Gene Swindle (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) had a career-high six rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
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