ODU Basketball Rallies But Can't Quite Come All The Way Back in 78-73 loss to JMU

By Harry Minium
 
NORFOLK, Va. – The juice has returned to the Old Dominion-James Madison men's basketball rivalry.
 
Playing their first game since both schools joined the Sun Belt Conference, the Monarchs and Dukes went at each other with gusto, and a boisterous crowd of 7,691 cheered as ODU trimmed what had been a 14-point lead to one.
 
But JMU never trailed, held off the Monarchs on the strength of its long-distance shooting and outlasted ODU, 78-73, Thursday night at Chartway Arena. 
 
The game was not decided until the final seconds. Chaunce Jenkins, who led the Monarchs with 19 points and five assists, made a driving layup to cut the lead to three, 76-73, with three seconds left.
 
The Monarchs (13-10 overall, 5-6 Sun Belt) called a timeout and immediately fouled Takal Molson on the inbounds pass. The graduate student from Buffalo, New York, who led JMU with 18 points, had a one-and-one with two seconds left and made both.
 
"My hats off to James Madison," ODU head coach Jeff Jones said. "They just played better than us tonight."
 
The Dukes (16-8, 7-4) won the game from long distance, making 10 of 20 three-point shots and 54 percent of their shots overall. Julien Wooden, a junior forward from Roanoke, scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half, all on three-point shots.
 
"He shot the heck out of the basketball," Jones said. "I think three of them came with five or six seconds left on the shot clock."
 
The game almost became a blowout in the first half. The Monarchs made just two of their first 17 shots and trailed by 14 points 12 minutes into the game before partially righting the ship.
 
Tyreek Scott-Grayson made a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to trim the margin to eight, 35-27.
 
Bryce Baker then opened the second half with a three-pointer to cut the lead to five.
 
Jenkins narrowed it to two with a driving layup two minutes into the second half and Faison Fields made one of two free throws to cut it to one, 39-38.
 
But ODU could never quite get over the hump.
 
The lead was two after a Jenkins three-pointer with 11:45 to go. The Dukes then got hot again from long distance, making three three-point shots on four possessions to take a 60-53 lead with 7:32 left.
 
ODU was forced to use a full-court press the Dukes in the game's final minutes and JMU got two breakaway layups. 
 
ODU's Mekhi Long had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds
 
Jones said the slow start dug ODU into a too big of a hole.
 
"They came out and established themselves as the aggressor," Jones said. "And we didn't really have much of a response. Our defense, I thought we played on our heels, and offensively their pressure on the perimeter really kept us from attacking.

"I thought for much of the second half, we were the more aggressive team. The problem is, when you get down to a good team, a veteran team, and a team that exhibited shot making the way they did tonight, you know, it's hard to climb up that mountain."
 
Jenkins said there's no mystery as to why ODU got down so early.
 
"We missed some open shots," he said. "We had some good looks, some open looks, and just kept missing. 

"And they were making their shots."
 
ODU was without power forward Ben Stanley, out with an injured hand, and his absence in the lane was noticeable. ODU outrebounded JMU, 35-29, but was outscored in the paint, 38-28.
 
"We're not a team that's been great at pounding the ball inside," Jones said. "But with Ben out that gets exposed even more. If we can't drive it in the lane, if Chaunce can't drive it, the only way we get points in the paint is really off offensive rebounds."
 
ODU has seven regular-season games left, the next against Georgia Southern Saturday at 7 p.m. at Chartway Arena. Jenkins said the Monarchs will bounce back and play hard against the Eagles.
 
"We talked about that the other day, how this team fights adversity," he said. "Every loss we take we're better the next day and we're ready to bounce back.
 
"So, that's what we're going to do."
 
NOTES: Saturday's game against Georgia Southern is alumni night.  Former ODU basketball players will be introduced at halftime. The team will wear Hudson Blue and fans are asked to wear Hudson Blue as well ... Stanley returned to practice on Tuesday but wasn't quite ready to play Thursday night. He could return against Georgia Southern ... Scott-Grayson played 22 minutes and scored 10 points and had two assists ... Imo Essien had nine points and two assists in 22 minutes off the bench ... Although JMU is a team that lives on points off turnovers, the Monarchs had 17 points off turnovers to six for the Dukes.