Dec. 2, 2006
NORFOLK, VA -- The Monarchs (6-2, 1-0) defeated CAA foe James Madison University (2-4, 0-1) today for head coach Blaine Taylor's 100th victory at Old Dominion. Coach Taylor has tallied a 100-61 (.621) record at ODU and has a career record of 242-127 (.656) in 12 years of college basketball.
Behind a career high rebounding day of 13 for Valdas Vasylius and a huge second half shooting for Drew Williamson, the seniors led the Monarchs to their first conference victory of the season.
The Dukes of JMU hung in during much of the sloppy first half. The two teams combined for 23 turnovers in the first half and although ODU managed a 48 percent first half from the field, the Monarchs missed on 13 opportunities and fired an uncharacteristic 12 first-half three balls.
Until sophomore Abdi Lidonde's back-to-back three's with under a minute left in the first half only one Monarch had connected on more than one shot from the field. Lidonde gave the Monarchs a five-point lead and freshman Gerald Lee's buzzer-beating layup made the lead seven going into the locker room.
The momentum swing into half time would give ODU enough to hold onto the lead the rest of the game. The Dukes would cut the lead to 2 with 10:37 remaining but a flurry of three-pointers from Lidonde, Brian Henderson and Williamson would put the game out of question with just over 6 minutes to go. ODU kept at least a 10-point lead the rest of the way.
Five straight field goals for the Monarchs came from behind the arc in that four minute stretch with a couple of free throws from Vasylius making the lead a game high 16. Vasylius would add more from the charity stripe and finish with a game-high 18 points and 13 boards. Vasylius also had five steals and two blocks. Williamson's back-to-back-to-back threes in those minutes gave him 17 points. He added four rebounds and four assists to his game total.
JMU was led by sophomore and last year's CAA Rookie of the Year Juwann James. Of the returning Dukes, James had given the Monarchs the most trouble last season averaging 13.5 points. ODU freshman Gerald Lee and sophomore Jonathan Adams platooned to hold James to just two points and two boards in the first half. However, in the second he was able to get 11 shots as he lead the Dukes charge. James tallied 14 points and 8 rebounds but it wasn't enough as the Dukes shot just 3-of-15 (20 percent) from outside and could not cash in from the charity stripe going 8-for-16 (50 percent).
For the game, ODU shot 46.8 percent on 22-of-47 shooting while the Dukes countered with a 39.7 percent attack percentage on 23-of-58 shooting. ODU was 16-for-25 from the free-throw line for 64 percent and had 18 assists to 22 field goals. ODU outrebounded JMU 38-30, blocked 7 shots and stole 8 balls. JMU took away 9 balls from the Monarchs but did not share the ball particularly well with just 11 assists on 23 field goals.
Arnaud Dahi was unable to play due to a flu-like symptoms but the frontcourt of the Monarchs picked him up totaling 34 points and 23 rebounds.
The Monarchs return to action on Wednesday, December 6th when they travel to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech. The tip is scheduled for 7:00 pm. ODU's next game at home is two weeks from today, December 16th against South Carolina State. Tip time is 7:00 pm for the game at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.