JMU WINS SECOND STRAIGHT, DEFEATS NCCU 79-66

Monday, November 23

Miami, Fla.

4:00 p.m.

James Madison University

2-2

North Carolina Central University

1-5

N.C. Central

James Madison

11/23/2009 11:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

(updated 10:30 p.m., 11/23/09)

MIAMI, Fla., Nov. 23, 2009 – Freshman guard Darren White (Danville, Va./Dan River) posted 20 points and nine rebounds to lead James Madison past North Carolina Central 79-66 on Monday afternoon in the final contest of the 2009 2K Sports Classic benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer at Florida International's U.S. Century Bank Arena.

JMU won its second in a row to improve to 2-2 for the season and 2-1 in the three-game Miami Regional in the 2K Sports Classic. NCCU fell to 1-5 for the season after going 0-3 in Miami.

The Dukes trailed 15-11 through the first five minutes of the opening half. However, a layup by senior forward Dazzmond Thornton (Denver, Colo./East) ignited an 18-1 outburst that put JMU ahead 29-16 with eight minutes to go. Thornton keyed the run with seven of the first nine points.

White posted 20 points for the second straight night. He made seven of his 14 field-goal attempts with a trio of three-pointers and nine rebounds, including seven in the second half. White averaged 16 points in the three games in the classic.

Senior guard Pierre Curtis (Denver, Colo./East) tallied his best overall performance of the young season, converting every shot attempted to go with six assists and seven rebounds. He was 3-for-3 from the field with a pair of treys and made all eight free-throw attempts. That included six free throws in a stretch of 12 seconds in the second half when the Eagles were whistled for a personal foul, a technical foul for a player not reported in the scorer's book, and a technical foul on the bench.

Thornton finished with a season-high 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. Sophomore forward Julius Wells (Toledo, Ohio/Libbey) had 13 points, four boards, and three assists. Junior guard Ben Louis (Melbourne, Australia/St. Francis Xavier) had a solid all-around game with eight points, five assists, three steals, and three boards.

NCCU guard C.J. Wilk