HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison opened a wide first-half lead on Thursday night, then held off a hard-charging Coastal Carolina team to pick up a 75-69 win over the Chanticleers in Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball action at the Atlantic Union Bank Center.

The Dukes (14-8, 5-4 SBC) thrived early in front of a crowd of 5,609, the second-largest crowd in the history of the Atlantic Union Bank Center. JMU hit 13 of its first 21 shots from the floor and used an early 17-0 run to storm out to a lead that grew to as many as 18 in the first half.

Coastal (10-11, 4-5 SBC) would respond as JMU went cold, however, erasing the deficit and forcing six ties in the second half as the Dukes worked to hold on.

Senior guard Vado Morse led four double-figure scorers for JMU, tallying 15 points, including eight in the second half. Sophomore Terrence Edwards grabbed 14 points as he continued his strong run of play, while junior Noah Freidel added 13 and graduate student Mezie Offurum had 12 points and six boards, including three on the offensive end.

All told, the Dukes went just 6-25 (24%) from the field in the second half, relying on their defense for crucial stops down the stretch to remain just two games out of first place in the Sun Belt standings.

Coastal Carolina guard Antonio Daye, Jr. was a force for the Chanticleers, racking up 23 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists with just one turnover in 31 minutes, leading three Coastal players in double figures.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
Coastal opened the scoring with a pair of free throws, but the Dukes ripped off the next 17 straight points, including six each from Freidel and junior Julien Wooden, to take a 15-point lead after just 6:48. JMU forced misses on each of the Chanticleers first nine shots.

From there, Coastal cut things back to as few as five before JMU built the lead back up. The Dukes were out in front by as much as 45-27 with 4:07 left in the half, but an extended shooting slump led Coastal cut the lead to 47-37 at the break.

Second Half
The Dukes’ cold shooting continued after halftime, with the Chanticleers using 12 straight points to finally tie things with 14:51 to play. From there, JMU held on in a back-and-forth affair, never trailing in the second half despite six different ties.

JMU went up for good with 4:20 to play on a layup from Morse, getting repeated stops down the stretch and holding Coastal to just two baskets on its final eight shots before Edwards put the game out of reach with a circus layup in the final minute and a pair of free throws with four seconds to play.

QUICK HITS
– Thursday marked the 15th time this season that JMU has gotten double-figure scoring out of four different players.

– JMU committed just 10 turnovers, its fewest against a Division I opponent this year.

– Graduate Takal Molson pulled down nine rebounds on the night, his third game with at least that many, raising his season average to 4.8.

UP NEXT
The Dukes remain at home for the weekend, welcoming ULM to the Atlantic Union Bank Center for a 4 p.m. bout on Saturday, Jan. 28. On Thursday night, the Warhawks knocked off first-place Marshall in an 86-82 double-overtime win in Huntington to improve to 10-12 (6-3 SBC) on the season.

— JMU Athletics —