BOONE, N.C. – James Madison built a double-digit lead on the road for the second straight game on Saturday evening, then held off a hard-charging App State team to pick up a 63-57 win in Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball at the Holmes Convocation Center.

The Dukes (17-8, 8-4 SBC) picked up their fourth win in a row and improved to 5-2 on the road in conference play. JMU held App State (13-12, 6-6 SBC) to just 19 points in the first half on 8-25 (32%) shooting before holding off a push from the Mountaineers that tied the game in the final minutes, but never cost JMU the lead.

Graduate student Takal Molson continued his strong play, pacing four double-digit JMU scorers with 16 points to go with five boards and three assists, while sophomore Terrence Edwards racked up 14 points and seven rebounds while grabbing a pair of steals.

Junior Julien Wooden hit three more three-pointers, including the go-ahead bucket with 1:04 to play, on his way to 12 points. Sophomore Tyree Ihenacho posted one of his most complete games of the year, with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block, while junior Noah Freidel pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds on the evening.

App State forward Donovan Gregory led the Mountaineers with 21 points and nine rebounds, while guard Terence Harcum added 20 points with the help of five three-pointers.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The Dukes started strong on defense once again, battling back and forth in the early minutes before ripping off eight straight points – including five from freshman Xavier Brown – to take an 18-8 lead at the 10:59 mark.

App would move to within six at one point, but JMU responded with a 12-4 run that put it up by a game-high 14 points before the Mountaineers hit a three-pointer in the final seconds to send things to halftime at 30-19.

Second Half
The two teams went back and forth to open the second half, with Molson scoring the Dukes’ first 10 points of the period, but the last three of those were needed to halt a 10-0 App State run that cut the lead down to 37-36 at the 14:32 mark.

The Dukes would respond by steadily opening the lead back up to 53-43 on a Wooden layup with 7:19 to play, but App would come right back, eventually using seven straight points in front of a rowdy crowd to tie things at 56-56 on a deep three-pointer with 2:25 left.

From there, JMU turned again to its defense – not allowing another field goal the rest of the way – and the hot shooting of Wooden, who knocked down a triple from the left corner with 64 seconds to play to put the Dukes ahead for good. Molson went 4-5 from the charity stripe in the final minute to close things out.

QUICK HITS
– The Dukes now have seven road wins this season, their most since winning nine during the 2015-16 campaign.
– JMU had four players score in double figures for the 17th time in 25 games this season.
– App State’s 39.0% clip from the floor for the game marked the eighth time this year that JMU has held an opponent under 40%.

UP NEXT
The Dukes head back on the road next weekend for the final two true road games of the season, starting with a trip to Statesboro, Ga. to face Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 9. The Eagles are 12-13 (5-7 SBC) after Saturday’s action.

— JMU Athletics —