Dukes Battle for Crucial Road Win at Northeastern

Thursday, February 3

Boston, Mass.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

13-7,4-5CAA

Northeastern

6-16,0-11CAA

James Madison

Northeastern

2/3/2022 10:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

BOSTON, Mass. - James Madison reeled off a 19-3 run across halftime, then fought off a charge from Northeastern, picking up a crucial road win over the Huskies in a 76-71 victory in men's basketball action at historic Matthews Arena on Thursday night.

The Dukes (13-7, 4-5) battled back from a slow start, shooting 50% from both the floor (30-60) and from deep (7-14) to outpace the Huskies (6-16, 0-11) down the stretch.

Redshirt junior Vado Morse again paced the JMU scoring, tallying 25 points on the evening to reach that mark for the third time in five games. He went 5-of-8 from the three-point line, giving him at least three treys in five straight contests.

Graduate student Charles Falden and redshirt freshman Terrence Edwards joined Morse in double figures, adding 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Nikola Djogo racked up 24 points and seven boards for Northeastern, while Chris Doherty added 17 points and 15 rebounds.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
Northeastern jumped out early, scoring the first 10 points of the game and stretching the lead to as many as 11 with a 20-9 advantage at the 11:52 mark. The Dukes would respond with six straight points, but fell back behind 24-15 with 8:19 left in the half.

From that point, JMU took control of the half, ripping off a 24-8 run to close the period, including the last nine points before the break. Freshman Devon Savage beat the horn with a layup to send the Dukes into the locker room with a 39-32 lead.

Second Half
Out of the half, the teams went back and forth, combining to hit their first 11 field goals. The Dukes pushed the lead to as many as 11, but Northeastern used runs of seven and six to chip away, then got seven more points in a row to take a 62-58 lead heading into the media timeout with 7:57 to play.

After the break, JMU scored six straight points to take the lead for the final time, as the Dukes clamped down on defense. JMU held the Huskies to just nine points in the final eight minutes, forcing seven turnovers across that stretch and hitting five of its final seven shots to seal the road win.

QUICK HITS
- The Dukes' win gave them a season sweep over Northeastern for the first time since the Huskies joined JMU's league.
- In his return to the floor from injury for the first time since Dec. 11 against Radford, redshirt freshman Tyree Ihenacho tallied five points, a team-high seven boards, three assists and two steals across just 22 minutes, making multiple crucial plays down the stretch.
- The win marked the Dukes' sixth comeback victory of at least 10 points this season, the most such wins for JMU since the 2010-11 season, when JMU had seven.
- Thursday was the seventh time this year that JMU has shot at least 50% from the field.

UP NEXT
The Dukes remain on the road for two more games, starting with a 2 p.m. matchup at Hofstra on Saturday, Feb. 5. On Thursday evening, the Pride dropped a 78-68 decision to Towson to fall to 13-9 (5-4) on the season.