Dukes Overcome Curry Injury to Beat CofC
JMU picked up a critical road win tonight with a 56-52 victory over College of Charleston. The Dukes are now 19-7 (9-4). CofC fell to 15-9 (7-6). Ron Curry carried the load for much of the night, before going down with an apparent knee injury in the second half. He still led all scorers with 16 points. With Curry on the sidelines icing his knee, Jackson Kent and Joey McLean rallied the Dukes to a late comeback win. McLean scored 8 points, including knocking down 3 of 4 free throws in the closing minutes to seal the win. Jackson Kent contributed 8 points and 5 rebounds, while playing with poise and maturity the Dukes needed in Curry’s absence.
Elsewhere in the CAA, Hofstra knocked off W&M. The result created a 3 way tie for second in the CAA between the Pride, Tribe, and the Dukes. UNCW, the team JMU will face on Saturday, sits alone at the top of the standings.
The first half of tonight’s game couldn’t have been much uglier. JMU shot 10 for 30 from the field, yet still somehow carried a 25-23 lead into the break. That was possible because CofC shot just as poorly, making only 7 of 21 field goals. It was an ugly half of hoops. Things picked up after the break though, with both teams putting together runs. Curry of course, was pacing the Dukes and keeping them in the ballgame. Then he went down after a collision near midcoast. With Curry writhing in pain on the floor, things looked really bad. But his teammates rallied to earn a huge road victory.
The win was great, but Curry’s injury unfortunately might be the bigger story. In the post game presser, Coach Brady said Curry will be out against UNCW on Saturday and that they’ll need to wait before they know more. JMU announced that there is no official diagnosis and that Curry is scheduled for an MRI tomorrow. We’ll hope for the best and update everyone when more details are made available.
h/t to @DarenStoltzfus for the photo
Really gritty win after the disappointing loss of Cabarkapa to injury and then Curry. Great team basketball. Hopefully the fact that some of these extra guys have been getting some minutes will help out down the road.
Any word on Curry?
W will be a tough win without Curry. That said, love the closing effort last night!
According to Coach Brady, the team won’t know the status of Curry’s injury until the results from the tests come back tomorrow.
Way to stay focused after Curry went down. The two high school teammates,
Jackson and Joey, really stepped it up a notch. Nice fluid play at the end.
Will be interesting to see how coach manipulates the line-up. Small ball?
This will be the 5th out of 8 seasons Brady’s teams have had 19 wins or
better. I appreciate the fact that he has made the program relevant again
after years in the wilderness. Time to extend/improve the contract and show some love.
GO DUKES
The Curry and Cabarkapa injuries have made a 2/3 place CAA team more of a 6/7 place team. Terrible timing right before tourney.