Game Story; JMU 74, St. Peter's 55

Tuesday, December 28

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James Madison University

7-3

St. Peter's

3-7

ST. PETER'S

JAMES MADISON

12/28/1999 1:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. (12/28/1999) – Mickey Dennis scored 16 points in his first JMU start, and Dwayne Braxton scored 13 points off the bench as JMU overcame a slow start to beat St. Peter's 74-55 in the Dukes' first game in 10 days.

JMU trailed 25-18 with 4:38 left in the first half but scored 14 straight points to close the half and opened the second period with four straight points to lead 36-25 with 18:14 to play. St. Peter's got no closer than eight points again (40-32 with 16:50 left), and JMU raised the margin to 57-36 with 11:23 remaining.

Braxton and Dennis led the 14-0 JMU burst to close the first half. Dennis got the Dukes to within 25-20 with two free throws and had a three-pointer with 3:10 on the clock to put the Dukes in front to stay, 26-25. Braxton had three-pointers at the 3:49 and 1:46 marks, the first pulling JMU to within 25-23 and the second raising the lead to 29-25.

Dennis started in place of Jamar Perry and played a JMU-career-high 32 minutes. He hit on three of five shots from the field, including two of four three-point tries, and was successful on eight straight free throws. He also had season highs of seven rebounds and three steals as well as two assists.

Braxton hit on five straight shots, including three three-point attempts. He also had three rebounds and two steals in 12 minutes.

Tim Lyle had 13 JMU points, including 10 during the first nine minutes of the second half when the Dukes' lead reached 21.

JMU shot 46.4 percent (26-56) to St. Peter's 36.5 percent (23-63) and had a 44-32 rebounding edge. Lyle led the Dukes with eight rebounds, and Jabari Outtz tied his JMU career high of eight assists for the second straight game. JMU shot 53.6 percent (15-28) during the second half.

Ten Dukes scored, and nine played 12 or more minutes.

Guard Ricky Bellinger led St.Peter's with 15 points. He hit on six of 14 shots after scoring 30 points in the Peacocks' previous game.