CONWAY, S.C. – James Madison men's basketball picked up its fourth straight win on Wednesday night, coming away with a 67-65 win over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at the HTC Center.
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Cliff Davis led JMU 15-13 (7-8 Sun Belt) with 22 points for his fifth 20-point game of the season. Joshua Beadle scored 31 points to lead Coastal Carolina (16-12, 8-7 Sun Belt), but missed a free throw with 0.4 seconds left to help the Dukes come away with the win.
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Davis' five threes vaulted him to sixth on the JMU single-season threes list, as the guard now has 89 triples this season.
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The Dukes outscored Coastal 40-16 in the paint, with
Gabe Newhof (9) and
Eddie Ricks III (8) leading the charge.
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In addition to Beadle's 31, only one other Chanticleer finished with 10 or more points, as RaSheed Jones finished with 10 points.
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How It Happened
First Half: James Madison 32, Coastal Carolina 32
- It was back-and-forth early before Kose Egbule gave the Dukes an 18-14 lead on a three-point jumper.
- A three-pointer gave Coastal the lead back, with the Chants holding a 24-21 advantage with 7:57 left.
- A tip-in from Christian Brown put JMU ahead 32-27, but CCU scored five in a row as the teams went into the locker room tied.
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Second Half:
- A 6-0 run for JMU put the Dukes up 40-39 with 16:45 left.
- JMU took an eight-point lead (50-42), but Coastal used a 13-0 run to swing momentum and go ahead 55-50 at the 8:24 mark. Â
- The Dukes trailed by as many as five (59-54) but battled back to take a 62-61 lead on a Davis triple.
- Beadle hit a pair of free throws to trim CCU's deficit to 66-65, but Egbule converted at the line to put JMU ahead 67-65.
- Beadle could not convert at the line on the other end, as the Dukes came away with the win.
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Game Notes
- JMU improved to 8-0 against Coastal Carolina. Â
- Christian Brown recorded one block, bringing his season total to 43. He is now four away from tying Andre Nation's JMU freshman block record.
- Davis scored in double figures for the 21st time this season and the fifth time with 20 or more. He also tied a season-high six rebounds.
- Davis became the second JMU player since 2004-05 (Kyle Swanston, 2008-09) with seven or more games of five threes.
- JMU improved to 4-10 in road games this season.