Poor First Half Dooms the Dukes
You know those goofy white guys who sit on the bench and hug each other and waive towels throughout March Madness? Well, William & Mary has an entire roster of them. The thing is, their goofy white guys are good and they defeated the Dukes tonight 85-78 in Williamsburg tonight.
JMU’s first half D was pretty much non-existent and the Tribe treated its home crowd to a vintage display of perfectly executed back door layups and efficient wide open jumpers. (ed. note: I seriously mean vintage. It looked like 1953 out there. I swear I saw a dude hit a two-hand set shot.) I’ll give credit where credit is due however, William & Mary took care of the ball and consistently created easy shots. The Tribe had five players reach double-figures in scoring.
As we’ve come to expect, Denzel Bowles had another big night pouring in a game high 26 points and grabbing 16 boards. Pierre Curtis and Darren White stepped up and provided some much needed scoring for JMU, finishing with 15 points a piece. Unfortunately, Julius Wells had an uncharacteristically off night with only 12 points.
I don’t even know what to say about this game really. It was painful to watch in the first half, with William & Mary knocking down threes and hitting easy lay up after easy lay up. They shot 69% for the half! It’s a good thing nobody under the age of 71 was in the crowd, because otherwise it could have gotten pretty rowdy. The second half though was a different story. JMU picked up the intensity and actually had me believing they were headed for a miracle finish. Kudos to Coach Brady for rallying the troops. It was a tough loss, but it’s not the end of the world. W&M has knocked off some big teams this season, including Wake Forest and Maryland. I don’t think either win was a fluke. JMU hung in their, but it just wasn’t their night. If they play the whole game like they played the second half next time they face W&M, I like the Dukes’ chances.
Finally, a big JMU Sports Blog Happy Birthday goes out to commenter Uncle Ron this weekend. Hope it’s a good one man!
It was a weird game to watch. 1953 is a good call. All of the William and Mary guys could make 3 pointers but there wasn’t one guy that I liked to watch shoot.
Also- Sean McCurdy was one of the players in ‘The Miracle of St. Anthony.’
Thanks guys! Not yet as old as my namesake, but I would be challenging him in the “oldest guy to show up at the AST 24-Hour Party” sweepstakes. Of course, I’d fall into the “Old Guys Leave!” category and he would be celebrated. Such is my station in life.
It was great seeing some Dukes bball on tv. Who was that guy on the bench in street clothes who looks like Lil Wayne?? He looks really awesome and I hope he is suited up for the game at the Patriot Center later this month.
That’s Devon Moore, the Dukes’ PG who’s out for the year with a knee injury. Glad I’m not the only one who thinks he looks like Lil Wayne.