CANISIUS HOLDS OFF JMU IN BRACKETBUSTERS PLAY

Saturday, February 20

Buffalo, N.Y.

7:00 p.m.

James Madison University

11-17

Canisius

13-15

James Madison

Canisius

2/21/2010 3:55:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BUFFALO, N.Y., Feb. 20, 2010 - James Madison's men's basketball team rallied to tie the game after trailing by 13 points during the second half but couldn't score during the closing 1:32 and lost 70-66 at Canisius in ESPN BracketBusters play Saturday.

The Dukes pulled even at 66-66 on junior forward Denzel Bowles' (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville) fastbreak dunk with 1:32 left to play. However, JMU had a turnover, missed on two-point shot and a three-point try, and failed to connect on two free throws during its next three possessions.

Canisius during the game's final 1:04 hit on four of eight free throws to hold on for the win. The Golden Griffins hit on one of two attempts from the foul line at the 1:04, 0:36, 0:19 and 0:05 marks.

Canisius, which competes in the Metropolitan Atlantic Athletic Conference, improved to 13-15 with the victory while JMU fell to 11-17.

Canisius broke from a 31-31 halftime tie to lead 55-42 and 58-45 with 10:29 left in the game. JMU then got points from six players and limited Golden Griffins to three field goals the rest of the while getting back into the game.

Freshman guard Darren White (Danville, Va./Dan River), who scored 14 points off the bench for JMU, started the Dukes' burst with a three-point field with 10:05 to play and had a steal and layup with 2:27 left to get JMU to within 66-63. Sophomore forward Julius Wells (Toledo, Ohio/Libbey) had a three-pointer early during the Dukes' surge and a steal and free throw with 2:12 left to pull JMU to within 66-64 at 2:12.

Senior guard Pierre Curtis (Denver, Colo./East) blocked a Canisius layup try to set up Bowles' game-game-tying field goal, but the Dukes didn't convert on offense again.

Canisius' Julius Coles had a free throw at 1:04 for a 67-66 Golden Griffin lead, and Bowles lost the ball driving to the basket on JMU's next possession. Frank Turner had a free throw at 0:36 to give Canisius a 68-66 edge, and Bowles had a layup try blocked by the Griffins' Tomas Vazquez-Simmons at 0:24.

Coles had another free throw at 0:19 for a 69-66 Canisius lead, and White couldn't hit on a three-point try at 0:10. Curtis was fouled while attempting to rebound White's missed but couldn't hit on either of his free throws with six seconds left, and Vazquez-Simmons all but sealed Canisius' win with a free throw at 0:05.

JMU had an 11-6 lead six minutes into the game, but Greg Logins scored eight points - six on three-pointers - during a 14-0 run that gave Canisius a 20-11 lead. JMU got back to within 20-18, but Canisius went up 29-20 with 3:21 left in the half with Logins hitting for another three-pointer.

The Dukes rallied into the 31-31 halftime tie with Wells scoring seven points during half's final 2:30 and all of his opening half's 12 during the period's final 6:03.

Canisius took control by scoring six points during the opening 1:17 of the second half and had three three-pointers while raising the margin to 13 points.

The Golden Griffins hit on 10 of 24 three-point attempts for the game (41.7 percent) and on five of nine during the final half (55.5 percent).

JMU shot 44.6 percent overall (25-56) and 36.8 percent from three-point range (7-19).