Dukes have dropped four of last six
Quinn McDowell scored 23 points and William and Mary had an answer for James Madison’s second-half charge, recording a 73-67 victory in a Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball game on Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.
W&M snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 7-16 overall, 3-9 in the CAA. The Tribe picked up just its second road win of the season (2-9) while also handing JMU just its second home loss (10-2). The Dukes fell to 17-7 overall, 7-5 in the league.
The Tribe used a key 11-0 first-half run to build a 14-point lead at 28-14. W&M led 35-21 at the half and was still up 15 at 39-24 with 17:33 to go before JMU made its push.
Trailing 49-39 with 11:48 to go, a three-pointer in the left corner by junior guard Humpty Hitchens (Chillicothe, Ohio/Chillicothe) capped an 8-2 spurt to cut the lead to four at 51-47 with nine minutes to go.
However, as quickly as the Dukes got back in it, the Tribe took them right back out of it with an 8-0 spurt in just 1:18 that left JMU down 59-47 with 7:42 to go.
JMU cut the margin back down to five at 59-54 on a jumper by Hitchens with 5:42 remaining, but Tribe freshman Julian Boatner nailed his fifth three of the night in as many tries to put the Tribe up eight.
The Dukes then started purposefully fouling with three minutes to go. The Tribe provided opportunities, hitting nine of their 14 tries in the final three minutes. JMU had another chance to cut the lead. Trailing 65-60 with just over a minute to go, senior forward Denzel Bowles (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville) found senior guard Ben Louis (Melbourne, Australia/St. Francis Xavier) for an open look from three on the right corner, but the shot came up short.
William and Mary missed its free throw on the other end and a Hitchens runner made it 65-62 with 55 seconds left, but the inbounds play found Tribe senior JohnMark Ludwick open for a layup to essentially seal the win as the Tribe went on to post the 73-67 final.
McDowell led all players with 23 points while hitting seven of his 10 attempts from the field and going 4-for-6 from the arc to go with eight rebounds. Boatner went 5-for-5 from the field, all three-pointers, to finish with 15 points. Brandon Britt added 10 points.
Junior forward Julius Wells (Toledo, Ohio/Libbey) finished with 19 points for JMU while hitting 5-of-10 three-pointers. He added five assists and three steals. Bowles posted his 12th double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 boards. All of his points and all but three boards came in the second half. Hitchens totaled 16 for the Dukes.
W&M shot a blistering 57% from the floor, hitting better than 50% in each half and nailing 9-of-18 (50%) of its three-pointers. The Tribe also held a 36-28 lead on the boards. JMU shot 38% from the floor and 32% from the arc.
The Tribe took a 35-21 lead into the half after shooting 59.1% from the floor and limiting JMU to 28.1% (9-32). W&M hit 6-of-10 three-pointers, including two as part of a key 11-0 push to take it from 17-14 to 28-14. McDowell had 13 in the first half alone while Boatner had a trio of three-pointers.
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