HARRISONBURG, Va. (JMU Athletics) – Myles Tate (20) and Dior Connors (18) combined for 38 points to lead App State past James Madison men’s basketball, 58-50, inside the Atlantic Union Bank Center on Saturday afternoon.

After JMU (10-9, 3-4 SBC) jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the opening minutes, App State (11-7, 5-2 SBC) quickly retook the lead and did not look back, holding the Dukes to 50 points and 18-of-51 (.353) from the field.

Bryce Lindsay paced the Dukes’ offense with 13 points – including 10 in the second half – and added four rebounds. Mark Freeman contributed 10 points and four assists, while AJ Smith led the Dukes with 10 rebounds.

Tate flirted with a triple-double, finishing with eight points and eight rebounds along with 20 points. Conners also finished with a season-high six made threes, while CJ Huntley added seven points and eight rebounds.

How It Happened
First Half: James Madison 20, App State 20
• The Dukes led App State 7-3 at the start of the game before the Mountaineers
responded with a 9-0 run, which saw JMU go scoreless for over four minutes.
• App State pushed the lead to eight (20-12) with 3:21 left in the first half before the Dukes closed the half with eight straight points to even the score at 20-20 going into the break.
• In the final 8:12 of the half, App State only scored two points and was held to 1-for-8 from the field.

Second Half: App State 58, JMU 50
• The Mountaineers made six of seven field goals over JMU to open the second half and increase their cushion to eight (35-27) with 15:30 left.
• The Dukes fell behind by 12 (46-34) with 9:27 left, their biggest deficit. Freeman and Lindsay buried threes to bring JMU to within 46-40 with 6:32 left.
• Lindsay made his third 3-pointer of the day to trim the deficit to 51-48 with 2:22 remaining but Conners responded with his sixth deep ball.
• AJ Smith finished at the rim to cut the deficit to four (54-50) with 1:47 left, but JMU would not score the rest of the way.

Game Notes
• App State improved to 9-3 against JMU in the all-time series.
• Today’s attendance of 4,685 was the second-highest at the Atlantic Union Bank Center this season (5,973, Ohio)
• JMU’s 20 first-half points is the lowest-scoring first half since managing 22 at Louisiana on Jan. 4, 2024.
• Smith tied a season-high 10 rebounds, his third game corralling double-digit boards.
• The Dukes fell to 8-2 at home this season.
• JMU attempted a season-low six free throws.

— JMU Athletics —