College of Charleston
5-10, 0-2
James Madison
9-6, 2-0
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| James Madison | 25 | 36 | 61 |
| Col. of Charleston | 26 | 24 | 50 |
Cougars Suffer Setback To JMU, 61-50
1/6/2015 4:23:00 AM | Men's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston men's basketball team was unable to overcome a 49-percent James Madison shooting effort in a 61-50 loss to the Dukes in Colonial Athletic Association play on Monday night at TD Arena.
Charleston (5-10, 0-2 CAA) managed a 38-percent shooting effort led by freshman Donovan Gilmore (Greensboro, N.C.) who scored a team-high 12 points on 5-of-7 field goals. Gilmore also pulled down seven boards, tying for the game high with Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast), while creating two steals and a block.
The teams ended the first half with virtually identical shooting figures, but trended in opposite directions for the second half.
JMU (9-6, 2-0 CAA) was led offensively by Ron Curry with 19 points, Yohanny Dalembort with 14, and Andre Nation with 12. Curry scored 14 of his 19 in the second half.
The Cougars won the battle of the boards, 33-30, leading to a 12-4 second-chance points advantage, but JMU won the overall points-in-paint battle, 32-24.
Joining Gilmore in double figures for the Cougars was senior guard Anthony Stitt (Charlotte, N.C.) with 10 points to go with three assists and four rebounds.
The Dukes opened the contest on highly efficient shooting, knocking down eight of their first 12 (66 percent) to build a six-point lead over the first nine minutes.
The Cougars responded in dominant fashion, making seven consecutive defensive stops to hold the Dukes scoreless for five-and-a-half minutes and over nine minutes without a field goal, fueling a 15-1 Cougar run. The Charleston defense bullied the Dukes into five turnovers and 0-for-5 shooting over that stretch.
The College led by as many as eight with under five minutes left in the first half, but the Cougars committed four costly turnovers in their final six possessions, allowing JMU to cut it to a one-point game at the break.
After holding CofC scoreless for the final five minutes of the first half, the Dukes opened the second in similar fashion, content with CofC turning the ball over twice and missing its first seven shot attempts before The Cougars converted their first second-half points with 15:22 to play.
Despite the shooting woes, Charleston's stingy defense kept the Cougars within one possession up until the 12-minute mark, but JMU's shooters found a rhythm, knocking down 7-of-8 from the field over the next four minutes to quickly stretch a 12-point lead.
Gilmore scored four of six points in a 6-0 Cougar run which trimmed the deficit to 47-41 with three minutes left, but CofC sent the Dukes to the free-throw line on each of their next seven possessions, and JMU capitalized by knocking down 10-of-13 from the charity stripe in the final two minutes to keep the Cougars at bay.
JMU shot 68-percent (15-of-22) from the line in the game, compared to just 50-percent (4-of-8) for The College.
Charleston remains at home for a Thursday, Jan. 8 CAA clash with Hofstra with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m. (ET). The game will be televised live locally on MyTV Charleston and tickets are still available for purchase by calling (843) 953-COFC.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the eighth time this season, the Cougars went with the starting five of Joe Chealey, Anthony Stitt, Canyon Barry, Donovan Gilmore and Adjehi Baru (3-5).
• College of Charleston and JMU are now tied 2-2 in the all-time series between both schools.
• Donovan Gilmore scored in double figures for the seventh time this season with 12 points and seven rebounds against James Madison.
• Anthony Stitt turned in his ninth double-digit scoring game of the season with 10 points. He has now tabulated 1,017 career points date.
• The Cougars outrebounded James Madison, 34-29 (+5). They are 2-1 this season when outrebounding their opponents.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the loss …
“I thought the guys played hard enough to win, effort wise. It was a much better effort than in our previous game. Besides a two-minute lapse on defense, we gave up 6-to-7 easy baskets. I thought our defense was good. If you take away those baskets, they (James Madison) score 54. We had some bad turnovers. We talked about trying to be more mature as a team and trying to do better. I have to coach them better. They have to take care of the ball better. We have to get shots versus going into the half down by one (point). I can't question the guys' effort tonight. We out-rebounded them. We needed a few more shots to fall and they didn't fall for us tonight.”
On what the team couldn't overcome against JMU …
“Our shots just didn't go in. Maybe, we shot a few too many threes, but I didn't see too many bad threes, 6-for-25. Maybe, we shouldn't have shot 25, maybe 18-to-20. If two more threes go in, the game would've been different. I told the guys, 'we have to spend more time in the gym, commit, continue to believe in yourself and your teammates and continue to get better as a shooter and as a player.' We have to be more mature. We played with a lot of effort, but the shots didn't fall tonight.”
College of Charleston Senior Guard Anthony Stitt
On the game …
“To be honest, I don't even think it was the offense that got us here. For a period of time in the first half, they (James Madison) charted us for seven stops in a row. I don't think we even came anywhere close to that in the second half, so we ended the first half with about four turnovers out of five possessions. We just didn't get back in transition after those turnovers and it led to layups at that end, so it gave them confidence going into the second half. Going into the second half, we didn't start very well. We had a couple of more turnovers, so I think that changed the game right there.”
College of Charleston Freshman Forward Donovan Gilmore
On the difference in the ballgame …
“I think it was more us than them (James Madison). We came out and we played hard. Coming into the game, we knew we had to play harder after a tough loss at William & Mary. I feel like we had a good spurt in the first half. Coming into the second half we started off slow, turned the ball over too much which was unacceptable.”
JMU Head Coach Matt Brady
On the road win …
“We're certainly excited about the win. It's a road win in conference play, which is very difficult to achieve. I thought in the middle 10 minutes of the first half, Charleston really asserted their strength and power and their rebounding prowess. I thought we played a much smarter and more poised second half, so we're excited about the win – coming down here in a difficult environment and winning the game.”
