HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (JMU Athletics) – Despite a 31-point outing from Mark Freeman, James Madison men’s basketball fell, 80-78, to Marshall on Thursday at the Cam Henderson Center.

Marshall (9-8, 2-2 SBC) tied a season-high 13 threes and got 27 points from Jalen Speer, who went 7-of-7 from behind the arc. Freeman’s 31 points led JMU (9-7, 2-2 SBC) and was the redshirt senior’s fifth career 30-point game and second in the past three games.

Xavier Brown scored 12 points and tallied seven rebounds, while Elijah Hutchins-Everett finished with 11 points and six rebounds. Despite outrebounding the Thundering Herd 43-32, the Dukes turned the ball over 13 times and only had two fast break points.

Along with Speer’s 27-point effort, Mikal Dawson scored 17 points and snagged eight rebounds. Marshall assisted on 14 of its 27 makes, while JMU recorded a season-low five assists.

How It Happened
First Half: James Madison 34, Marshall 32
• Marshall built an eight-point lead at 22-14 with 8:27 to play in the first half, which forced a JMU timeout.
• A putback dunk from Will Lovings-Watts sparked a 6-0 JMU run at the 6:11 mark, and the Dukes would tie it up at 25 with 4:38 to go in the first.
• A Brown triple at the buzzer would give the Dukes the lead back going into the break at 34-32. From Marshall’s largest lead of the half, JMU outscored the Herd 20-10 to close the first stanza.
Second Half: Marshall 48, James Madison 44
• Marshall opened the second half on a 7-2 run to take a 39-36 lead at the 16:36 mark.
• Both squads exchanged buckets as Marshall maintained a slim lead before a 6-0 run gave the Herd a 52-45 lead with 12:15 to play.
• A Freeman layup sparked a 12-5 Dukes run to tie it up at 57-57 with 8:08 to play.
• The teams exchanged runs as a Freeman triple tied the game at 71-71 with just over three minutes to play.
• After finding themselves tied again at 73, Freeman got to the line with 45 seconds left and gave JMU a 75-73 lead.
• After falling behind by one, Freeman made one of two foul shots with six seconds left to tie it again at 78.
• A JMU foul put Marshall on the line with 1.1 left and converted free throws allowed the Herd to clinch the win.

Game Notes
• Marshall improved to 3-7 against James Madison and 2-4 as Sun Belt foes.
• Elijah Hutchins-Everett scored 1,000th career point on a free throw in the first half, the third JMU player to reach that milestone (Mark Freeman, Noah Williams)
• The Dukes finished with a season-high seven blocks, with Ebenezer Dowuona picking up three.
• JMU fell to 8-4 when leading at half this season and 0-5 in road games.

Up Next
The Dukes will stay on the road to play App State on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. The game will be on WSVA (92.1 FM | 550 AM) and on the Varsity Network App with Dave Riggert.

— JMU Athletics —