MEN'S BASKETBALL DUKES FALL TO CAA LEADER DREXEL

Monday, January 8

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7 p.m.

James Madison University

4-10, 1-3

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12-2, 4-0

Drexel

James Madison

1/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va., Jan. 8, 2006 -- Senior guard Dominick Mejia (Voorhees, N.J.) sparked Drexel to an early lead with three field goals from three-point range during the opening seven minutes, and the visiting Dragons went on to beat James Madison 65-54 in men's Colonial Athletic Association basketball Monday at the JMU Convocation Center.

Mejia's third three-pointer gave Drexel a 17-5 lead with 13:16 left in the first half, and the Dragons led by at least six points the rest of the way while winning for the 10th straight time.

Drexel raised its overall record to 12-2 and its CAA mark to 4-0. JMU is 4-10 overall and 1-3 in the conference.

The Dragons hit on seven of 11 shots (63.6 percent) from three-point range while taking a 31-18 lead by halftime and were nine of 20 on three-point attempts for the game (45.0 percent).

Mejia put the Dragons in front to stay 5-3 with his initial three-pointer 2:20 into the game and added a three-pointer at the 15:35 before capping the early Drexel burst with another three at 13:16. His fourth three-pointer of the opening half with eight seconds showing on the clock completed the first period's scoring.

JMU, which had been limited to six field goals (20 attempts) during the first half, pulled to within six points twice during the final half. The Dukes begin the second period with a 10-3 scoring run to get to within 34-28 on junior center Gabriel Chami (Cordoba, Argentina/New Hampton) layup with 16:02 left and were within 37-31 on sophomore guard Joe Posey's (Colonial Beach, Va./Notre Dame Academy) three-point play with 12:56 remaining.

Mejia's three-point play capped a 7-0 Drexel burst for a 44-31 Dragon lead with 9:29 to play, and the margin stayed at 10 or more points until Posey connected on four three-point shots during the final 1:21.

Posey had late three-pointers at the 1:21, 1:03, 0:35, and 0:02 marks, but Drexel hit on seven of eight free throws during the final 1:14 to keep command. The closest JMU got was 59-51 on Posey's three-pointer with 35 seconds left, but Drexel got a dunk from junior center Frank Elegar (Bronx, N.Y.) with 29 seconds left and two free throws from senior guard Bashir Mason (Jersey City, N.J.) with 15 seconds left following a missed JMU field goal attempt.

Mason led Drexel with 17 points, and Mejia finished with 16 points and sophomore reserve guard Tramayne Hawthorne (Steelton, Pa.) with 13. The Dragons, who had a 31-27 rebounding edge, also got 14 rebounds and three blocked shots from senior forward Chaz Crawford (Philadelphia, Pa.), the CAA's blocked shots leader for the season.

Posey finished with 18 points to lead JMU, hitting on five of seven three-point shots in 17 minutes. Freshman guard Pierre Curtis (Denver, Colo./East) had 14 points and five rebounds and sophomore forward Juwann James (Jacksonville, Fla./Raines) nine points and a season-high 10 rebounds.

Drexel shot 42.9 percent overall from the field (18-42). JMU hit on 40.0 percent of its shots overall (18-4