Dukes Capture Fifth Straight with 82-64 Win at Elon

Saturday, January 23

Elon, N.C.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

16-5, 6-2CAA

Elon

12-9, 3-5CAA

James Madison

Elon

1/23/2016 10:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ELON, N.C. - After a blistering opening half from Elon, James Madison held the Phoenix to 25% shooting from the field in the second period to pick up an 82-64 road win in Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball action on Saturday evening.

The Dukes moved to 16-5 (6-2 CAA) on the season with the win, marking the first time since the 1981-82 campaign that JMU has started the year with that record. JMU is also 7-0 on the road this season, the best start in program history and just three wins from the school record for road wins.

Elon fell to 12-9 (3-5 CAA) in the loss.

Five JMU players scored in double figures in a well-balanced evening, led by junior forward Paulius Satkus. The Raudondvaris, Lithuania, native had a breakout evening for the Dukes, racking up a season-high 14 points and matching his career best with a team-best eight rebounds.

Senior guard Ron Curry and sophomore guard Joey McLean each matched Satkus' 14 points, while junior guards Jackson Kent and Shakir Brown respectively tallied 13 and 12. Junior forward Yohanny Dalembert chipped in eight points and six boards for the Dukes in just 21 minutes.

The Phoenix opened the game with 20 minutes of red-hot shooting, going 17-for-28 (60.7%) from the field, including a 9-for-13 (69.2%) mark from long range. Despite the breakneck pace, JMU led for 6:01 of the first half and entered the break trailing by just one at 43-42.

Following halftime, the Dukes clamped down on defense. After Luke Eddy tied things at 45-45 with a layup at the 18:08 mark, JMU allowed just one field goal and eight points over the next 7:52 as the Dukes took a 59-53 lead with 10:19 to play.

Elon would keep things close, cutting the lead back to 63-55 with 7:59 to play, but Curry drilled a three-pointer from the right wing to put the Dukes ahead by double digits for good. The trey keyed a quick 9-0 run that gave JMU a 72-55 lead with 4:55 to play, and the Dukes hit free throws down the stretch to put the game away.

Dainan Swoope led the way for Elon on the evening, going 4-for-6 from the three-point line to tally 12 points, while Brian Dawkins and Dmitri Thompson each picked up 10.

QUOTING COACH BRADY
"I think we played a great game tonight and we had to in order to beat a very good, very scrappy, very well-coached Elon team. They came to our building and outplayed us for 40 minutes and, tonight, we battled and scraped and hung in there, and we had a really great second half."

CLIMBING THE RECORD BOOKS
Senior guard Ron Curry continued his march up the JMU record books with his performance on Saturday. His two made three-pointers gave him 161 for his career, moving past Ray Barbosa (2003-06; 160) and into sole possession of eight all-time at JMU, while his pair of steals bumped him into a tie for seventh with Darren McLinton (1992-96) at 123 for his career. The evening also marked Curry's 118th career game (tied for fifth all-time) and his 102nd career start (tied for sixth).

MAKING TURNOVERS COUNT
The Dukes forced 12 turnovers on the evening, tied for sixth-most of any game this season, but scored 21 points off those opportunities. That number marks a season-high for JMU against Division I opponents, as only the Dukes' 23 points off turnovers in their win over Eastern Mennonite tops Saturday evening's performance.

TWEET OF THE GAME

I see you dabbin @JMUMBasketball Another great road win! #GoDukes #RoadWarriors pic.twitter.com/T7uEeIlJgk
— Brooke Boyd (@JMUFan4Ever) January 24, 2016

AROUND THE CAA
JMU is in sole possession of first place in the league after Saturday's action. All three teams that were tied the Dukes at 5-2 (William & Mary, Hofstra and UNCW) had their Saturday contests pushed to Sunday afternoon due to weather. In other action, Towson earned a 79-72 win at Northeastern, while Charleston held off Delaware at home in a 59-58 win.

UP NEXT
The Dukes return to Harrisonburg this week for a 7 p.m. bout with UNCW on Thursday, Jan. 28. The Seahawks sit at 13-5 (5-2 CAA) on the year, but had their contest at Drexel rescheduled from Saturday to Sunday, Jan. 24, at 12 p.m.