Game Story; Va. Commonwealth 82, JMU 75

Saturday, January 5

Richmond, Va.

TBA

James Madison University

7-4, 0-3CAA

VCU

10-4, 2-1CAA

JAMES MADISON

VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH

1/5/2002 12:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va. (1/5/2002) – Willie Taylor put Virginia Commonwealth in front with consecutive three-point field goals with less than five minutes to play, and the Rams rallied from a 16-point deficit to beat JMU 82-75.

Taylor, who had five three-pointers and 27 points overall, scored from long range to get VCU to within 65-64 with 4:47 left and put his team ahead to stay with a three-pointer with 4:12 to play. His field goals started a 21-10 scoring run by the Rams, who hit on 10 of 15 free throws during the final 3:01. VCU had trailed 44-28 late during the first half.

Taylor hit on eight of 14 shots overall and five of nine three-point attempts. He also had eight rebounds in 36 minutes.

JMU shot 46.7 percent (14-30) during the first half and reached its 16-point advantage on two Dwayne Broyles free throws 2:43 before halftime. However, the Dukes didn't score again until Chris Williams hit on two free throws with less than a second left in the half while VCU scored 11 points to get to within 46-39 at the break.

VCU outscored JMU 12-5 during the first five minutes of the final half to tie the score at 51-51, but JMU went back in front 59-53 with 11:24 left behind five Ron Anderson points. VCU got its first lead since the opening six minutes at 61-60 on Emanuel Mathis' field goal with 7:18 left, but five straight JMU points gave the Dukes a 65-61 edge with 4:57 to play.

During the first half JMU led only 14-12 before a 30-16 scoring run from the 12:40 mark until Broyles' free throws at the 2:43 mark. Broyles had 12 first-half points and David Fanning and Anderson nine each during the opening period for JMU.

Anderson played for the first time (27 minutes) since the Dukes' season-opening game at North Carolina State (hand fracture) and led JMU with 20 points and five rebounds. He hit on nine of 13 shots, including two of three from three-point range. Broyles added 18 points and Fanning and Williams 11 each. Fanning didn't play late during the game because of an ankle injury.

Domonic Jones added 21 points and 12 rebounds and Antoine Willie 19 points for VCU.

JMU shot only 32.4 percent (11-34) during the second half and finished with a 39.1 percent (25-64) shooting mark overall. VCU also hit on 25 of 64 shots, and the Rams had a 47-39 rebounding edge.