Comeback Falls Just Short in Loss to UT Martin

Sunday, November 22

Harrisonburg, Va.

3:30 p.m.

James Madison University

2-3

UT Martin

1-4

UT Martin

James Madison

11/22/2015 5:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. - Twymond Howard's three-pointer with 3.1 seconds remaining lifted UT Martin to a 78-75 victory over the James Madison men's basketball team on Sunday afternoon in the Convocation Center.

The loss moves JMU to 2-3 on the season, while UT Martin improved to 1-4.

The contest was back and forth through much of the late stages, as the Dukes and Skyhawks racked up 11 ties across the final 11 minutes of the contest. On the decisive play, senior guard Alex Anderson ran the clock down and found drew two JMU defenders before finding Howard for an open look behind the arc. The shot was Howard's first made three of the season and just his second made field goal of the evening.

Senior guard Ron Curry scored a season-high 21 points on an efficient 9-for-14 shooting from the floor, including 3-for-8 from three. The Dukes balanced the remainder of their scoring, with six other players tallying at least seven points, led by 12 from junior forward Dimitrije Cabarkapa.

As a team, JMU shot 49.1-percent (28-for-57) from the floor and 72.7-percent (8-for-11) on free throws, but was outshot by the Skyhawks who hit at a 54.5 percent (30-for-55) clip, including 44.4-percent (12-for-27) from three point range, and 85.7-percent (6-for-7) from the free throw line.

The Dukes improved their accuracy after halftime for the fifth consecutive contest, hitting 60.7-percent (17-for-28) of their shots in the second half after shooting just 37.9-percent (11-for-29) before the break. JMU's efforts from the field allowed it to climb out of a 16-point, first-half hole, after it trailed 32-16 at the 5:42 mark in the first half. The game's next bucket, a driving layup from senior guard Winston Grays III, started a run in which the Dukes hit 12 of their 13 field goal attempts. The run lasted until the 14:33 mark in the second half, when Cabarkapa hit a turnaround jumper to cut the deficit to one at 49-48.

Points in the paint (32-32), points off turnovers (11-11), fast break points (four-four), and bench points (22-22) were all even for both teams.

QUOTING COACH BRADY
"We're really disappointed with the loss. I thought that [UT Martin] played phenomenally well in the first 15 minutes of the game--they made every shot and banked in a couple shots--and then I thought that, the last 25 minutes of the game, we seemed to recognize the team we were for the first couple games before we came back to the Convocation Center."

UP NEXT
The Dukes return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 24 when the in-town Eastern Mennonite Royals come to the Convo to face JMU for the first time since the 1974-75 campaign. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.