Feb. 4, 2006
NORFOLK, VA-- Six Monarchs scored in double figures to help propel the Old Dominion Monarchs to a 87-69 conference win over James Madison on Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 8,424 at the Ted Constant Center. Old Dominion snapped their two-game losing streak, and improved to 16-7 (9-4) while James Madison drops to 3-17 (0-12) on the year. ODU's 87 point total is tied for their highest output of the season, equaling their total against DePaul earlier in the year. The sellout crowdwas the third of the year at the Constant Center.
The Monarchs came out firing on all cylinders in the first half as consecutive three-pointers by Brian Henderson, Arnaud Dahi, and Drew Williamson gave ODU an early 11-0 lead. After another Williamson trey put the Monarchs up by 10, the Dukes answered with an 11-0 run capped off by a Joe Posey lay-up that gave the visitors their only lead of the night, 20-19 with 9:19 left in the first half.
Junior guard John Morris (Camp Hill), who tied a career-high with 12 points on the night, would drill two three-pointers and convert two foul shots in the ensuing 3:18 minutes of action as ODU regained their lead and eventually built their advantage to 18 as the teams went into the half with the Monarchs led 49-31.
ODU would gain their largest lead of the night after an Abdi Lidonde trey put the Monarchs up 87-56 with 2:52 remaining in the contest. JMU scored the final 13 points of the game as the two teams tied in second half scoring 38-38.
Old Dominion was accurate from the floor all night, shooting .563% from the field, and .526% from three point land. The Monarchs also outrebounded JMU 38-31 and blocked five shots to Madison's zero.
Dahi and Williamson led the Monarchs with 14 points apiece, with Williamson dishing out a game-high seven assists as well. Junior forward Valdas Vasylius (Klaipeda, Lithuania) scored 13 points, and pulled down eight boards to lead both teams in that category. Senior forward Alex Loughton (Perth, Australia) and junior guard Abdi Lidonde (Sutton, MA) both contributed ten points for Old Dominion. Lidonde also tied his career high totals in rebounds (4) and assists (3).
For James Madison, Juwann James poured in a game-high 16 points, grabbed six rebounds, and took five steals. Posey added fourteen points and six rebounds.
The sellout crowd in attendance at the Ted Constant Center was ODU's third of the year along with the Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth games.
ODU returns to the hardwood on Thursday night as they host William & Mary at the Ted Constant Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.