Huge Run Propels JMU Over Delaware

The JMU Dukes picked up their fifth CAA road win of the season last night by defeating the Delaware Blue Hens 67-54. It was a close game throughout much of the first half until the Dukes closed with a 11-0 run to take a 32-27 halftime lead. They came storming out of the gates after the break and broke the game open with a 11-3 run to go up 43-30. They never relinquished the lead from that point on and cruised home for the big road win.

JMU is now 15-11 overall and 8-5 in CAA play. Surprisingly, 5 of those CAA wins have come on the road. After winning the CAA last season, Delaware dropped to 6-18 and 5-8 in the league. Here are three quick thoughts on the win.

Bizarro YoYo and Bizarro Kent

This might be remembered as the game that Yohanny Dalembert hit a three pointer and Jackson Kent threw down a dunk. Those were two things we didn’t think we’d see in the same game, or ever actually. While YoYo shooting long range jumpers and Kent dunking aren’t things we expected, they both were huge plays that helped get the Dukes going. Kent’s dunk came on a breakaway after a loose ball sort of popped into his hands. It was good for 2 of his 9 points in on the night and pulled JMU to back within 2 after Delaware had briefly jumped out to a first half lead. YoYo’s three with the shot clock winding down sparked the 11-0 run that propelled JMU to take a lead it never gave back.

Balanced Effort

The Dukes came together for a solid defensive and rebounding effort. JMU managed to hold UD below 40% from the field and out-rebounded the Blue Hens 36-30. YoYo lead the Dukes with 14 points and secured another double-double by pulling down 10 boards. Joey McLean, coming off being honored as one of the CAA Rookies of the Week, scored 13 points in his second straight start. Five other Dukes scored in the game. Nobody was outstanding, but everyone contributed. Even guys who don’t always do much offensively dropped in some big buckets. Tom Vodonavich took some ill advised jumpers and missed an awkward attempt in the post in the first half. He got back to what he does best after the break and banged away down low for a few crucial garbage type buckets though. He finished with 9 points. Ron Curry saw his double-digit scoring streak come to an end, but it really didn’t matter. The whole team stepped up and got the job done.

CAA Road Warriors

As mentioned above, this was JMU’s fifth CAA road win of the season. With only 2 road games remaining, that means the Dukes have clinched a winning road record in CAA play. That’s pretty impressive and not something many would have predicted heading into the season. This team has definitely been up and down and has been frustratingly bad at its low points. However, it has largely taken care of business against the league’s weaker teams. That’s obviously good. We’re still looking for them to knock off one of the true contenders in W&M, UNCW, or Northeastern. For now though at least they’re beating the teams they should. And the fact that they’re doing it on the road is a nice bonus.