‘A Tale of Two Halves’ for JMU in 96-86 Win Over Longwood
February 23, 2010 • By Dan Lobdell, The Breeze
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HARRISONBURG, Va. — JMU guard Pierre Curtis took flight, soaring in for what surely would have been a Top 10 play on SportsCenter… if he had landed it. No matter, the missed dunk attempt resulted in two free throws, both of which Curtis made.
The senior finished with his second career double-double, leading the Dukes to a 15-point comeback for their victory against Longwood. Curtis finished with team highs of 25 points and 10 assists.
“A lot of the coaches have been coming up to me a lot the last couple days and telling me, ‘Man, [you] only have a couple more games left in [your] college career so, not to hold anything back,” Curtis said. “Just starting to play and just not worry about anything, not worry about missing shots, just play my game and see what happens.’ ”
What happened was Madison came roaring back from being down 49-34 late in the first half. In addition to Curtis, sophomore Julius Wells and freshman Alvin Brown contributed significantly to JMU’s (12-17 overall) largest comeback of the season.
Wells sank two 3-pointers to end the half and cut the Lancers’ lead to 52-44 at the break. At that point, Longwood had made 11-of-17 treys in what JMU coach Matt Brady called an “extraordinary number” of first-half makes from beyond the arc.
“You know, to me, it was a game where certainly a tale of two halves,” second-year coach Brady said. “We couldn’t have played with less energy and alertness on defense in the first half. And in the second half, I thought that our alertness and awareness and toughness went way up.”
Starting with the Wells 3s, Madison went on a 13-0 run to slice the lead to one and eventually took the lead on a tip-in from freshman Alioune Diouf. It was the Dukes’ first lead since 2-0.
JMU would eventually take the lead for good on a Denzel Bowles lay-up off a Ben Louis assist. Louis had been on the receiving end of a few Bowles passes in the first half for easy lay-ups.
The Dukes’ lead ballooned to as much as 12 following a Brown lay-up with less than seven minutes remaining. Brown, a 6-foot-10-inch center from Fort Washington, Md., played a season-high 14 minutes. He would ultimately foul out, but not before posting five points and seven blocks, in addition to several other shots altered.
“It was good that he could come in and contribute,” Bowles said. “Because I was feeling a little gassed in the first half. I’m a little exhausted; like three games in one week is hard, you know. So it was good that he came in and helped the team, sparked the team with the blocks, ’cause that changes the game when you block shots like that.”
Bowles played a season-low 25 minutes, yet still was able to post near his usual numbers with 19 points and seven rebounds. He hopes that rest will come in handy Wednesday night, when JMU travels to face Virginia Commonwealth. Madison beat the Rams 76-71 at the Convocation Center on Feb. 13.
VCU (19-7 overall, 10-6 in Colonial Athletic Association) is led by 6-foot-11 junior Larry Sanders and will be fighting to lock up a bye heading into the CAA tournament. The Rams are currently in fifth place in the conference and only the top four seeds receive first-round byes.
Bowles outscored Sanders 21-15 in the first meeting, but was outrebounded by the NBA prospect 14-3.
Brady realizes the significance of holding Longwood to just 29.6 percent shooting in the second half heading into Wednesday night’s crucial match-up.
“My attention really now is just with VCU, trying to figure out a way to have some control of the tempo,” Brady said. “Because VCU is a really explosive team at home, and they don’t likely score less than 70 against anybody, and I’m not sure on the road that we can get into the 70s. So I think it’s important that we keep this game at no more than 70.”
Contact Dan Lobdell sweetlifebrah@gmail.com
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