College of Charleston
8-21, 3-13CAA
James Madison
18-11, 11-5CAA
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Col. of Charleston | 28 | 33 | 61 |
| James Madison | 32 | 36 | 68 |
JMU Fends Off Cougars, 68-61
2/22/2015 11:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Photos Courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Yohanny Dalembert scored a career-high 21 points as James Madison fended off College of Charleston, 68-61, on Sunday afternoon at the JMU Convocation Center.
The Dukes (18-11, 11-5) won their fifth straight, its longest win streak in league play since 2011, and moved into a first-place tie in the Colonial Athletic Association standings, while the Cougars (8-21, 3-12) dropped their fifth league road game decided in single digits this season.
Dalembert converted 11-of-14 from the free throw line as JMU went 24-of-35 for the game from the charity stripe in comparison to CofC's 8-of-9 attempts. Eleven of the Dukes' points came off of 11 turnovers committed by the Cougars. Winston Grays had 13 points and Jackson Kent added 10 for James Madison.
Sophomore Joe Chealey (Orlando, Fla.) made all seven of his free throws and finished with a team-high 19 points. Freshman Cameron Johnson (Athens, Ga.) added 13 points, while senior big man Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) contributed eight points and seven rebounds in the road loss.
Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 2:10 left in the game to pull Charleston within 62-56, but JMU scored the next four points on six free throw attempts to keep the game out of reach. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was postponed until Sunday due to a winter storm in the area and inclement weather conditions.
CofC will play its second to last regular-season game on the road at Hofstra on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. (ET) in Hempstead, N.Y. The game will not be televised, but can be heard live on the CofC Radio Network on ESPN 910 AM in Charleston.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For only the second time this season, the Cougars started Joe Chealey, Cameron Johnson, Canyon Barry, Evan Bailey and Adjehi Baru (1-1). It marked Bailey's fourth career start.
• James Madison swept the regular-season series with College of Charleston and took a one-game lead in the all-time series between the two schools, 3-2.
• Joe Chealey recorded a team-high 19 points to extend his career-and season-best double-digit scoring streak to eight consecutive games. He also dished out five assists against the Dukes to turn his first career 100+ assist season.
• Cameron Johnson notched his fifth career double-figure scoring game with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor at James Madison
• Anthony Stitt had one assist off the bench and became only the 15th all-time player in school history to record 300 career assists (300).
• Adjehi Baru led the team with seven rebounds and has now brought down 892 career rebounds to date. He ranks fifth all-time in school history and third all-time in the program's Division I history (1991-Present).
• CofC shot its second-best free-throw percentage in a single game this season (88.9%) behind a perfect 7-for-7 performance from behind the line from Joe Chealey.
• Defensively, the Cougars held JMU's top player and the CAA's fourth-leading scorer in league games, Ron Curry, to no made field goals and scoreless for the first 28 minutes and 15 seconds of the game. He scored all of his points at the free throw line (5-for-6) in the second half of play. It was just his second game of the season to be held without a field goal next to Valparaiso on Dec. 29.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On the game …
“James Madison made plays down the stretch. I thought our guys played well for a good stretch of the game with 12 minutes left. But, right in the middle of the second half, we let it get away from us. We gave them (JMU) too many second-chance opportunities. (Yohanny) Dalembert really hurt us going 11-for-14 from the free throw line and rebounding his misses. We had no answer for him. They played more aggressive than we did today. It is disappointing that we couldn't play more disciplined by not fouling as much as we did. We also need to make sure we get crucial loose balls. But, we are still improving as a team and gave good effort.”
On the postponement of the game until Sunday due to the winter storm in the area …
“We got here on Friday night and got snowed in. But, that didn't have anything to do with it. We actually stayed at our hotel and were able to get some rest. It didn't affect us at all.”
On holding JMU leading scorer Ron Curry defensively to no field goals made …
“He was an important factor of the game. The other half of that factor was (Yohanny) Dalembert. He kicked our butt and we had no answer for him. Our freshman guard, Cameron Johnson, did a good job of defending him (Curry) today.”
