Second-half Savior for the Dukes
December 24, 2009 • By Tim Chapman, The Breeze
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Second-year coach Matt Brady lit fire with his halftime speech as a lethargic first-half squad turned into a monster after the break. JMU went on a 12-0 run to start the second half of an 85-73 win over the visiting Fordham Rams on Wednesday.
“I went in there and challenged their pride more than anything,” Brady told WSVA radio following the game. It is a “very inconsistent group. The energy level is very bizarre.”
Junior transfer and center Denzel Bowles led the Dukes with 24 points and 13 rebounds, with 19 of those points in the final 20 minutes. Julius Wells also shook off some early rust following a six-day layoff, scoring 12 of his 18 points in the second half.
Wells is averaging over 13 points per game in the Dukes first 10 outings and Bowles is averaging 25 points in his first three games in purple and gold since becoming eligible after transferring from Texas A&M a year ago.
“There’s no secret. When we can throw the ball to him, we’re gonna throw the ball to him,” Brady said. “Throwing the ball to him and getting some baskets allowed us to get some energy defensively.”
Fordham (2-8) hung around for much of the second half before JMU (6-4) took a 1-point lead on two Bowles’ free throws with six minutes remaining. Although Bowles was just one-for-five from the line in the first half, this pair started a 9-0 run for the Dukes.
The 6-foot-10-inch Virginia Beach native put his finishing touches on the contest with a big slam-dunk to give the Dukes a 77-69 lead.
In the first half JMU struggled to maintain any momentum despite spirited and energetic play at times.
Brady joked about his team’s inconsistency following the game: “I’m hoping that when I go back upstairs they’re all gone so I don’t have to see them.”
Freshman guard Darren White got the Dukes on the board with a tomahawk slam-dunk after Fordham scored the first six points of the game.
Bowles also scored his first bucket with a thunderous slam. But the Rams out-shot the Dukes hitting more than 51 percent of their shots to take a 41-32 lead into the break. The Dukes hit just 38 percent from the floor and struggled especially from the free-throw line, making just four of their 11 attempts.
White led the Dukes with nine points in the half, while junior guard Ben Louis scored eight points with five rebounds off the bench. Wells, the Dukes most prolific scorer of the young season, scored six points but shot just 1-for-6 from the field.
Louis finished the game tying a career-high 11 points before fouling out. Brady credited Louis’ three 3-pointers with keeping the Dukes in the game.
“I think the guy that really kind of saved us was Ben Louis,” Brady said. “He took ’em with great confidence… He took the shots like he knew they were going in.”
White finished with 15 points and tied Wells for second in rebounding with eight.
Fordham freshman Chris Gaston scored a game-high tying 24 points to lead the Rams.
Fordham is still looking for its second win since head coach Dereck Whittenburg was fired after a 1-4 start. The Rams went 3-25 last season.
The Dukes are back in play Tuesday as they travel to Palo Alto, Calif., in hopes of taking down the Stanford Cardinal (6-6) of the PAC-10.
contact Tim Chapman at chapmantp@gmail.com
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Big game Tuesday Dukes!!! Time to show the CAA that the Dukes of JMU, along with God-send Denzel Bowles are LEGITE. My alma mater is going to take their basketball program to new levels. Can’t wait to be watching saturday mornings on CBS while drinking a beer and rocking in my lazy boy in a few years.