Second-Half Surge Fells Dukes at Charleston

Saturday, January 21

Charleston, S.C.

4 p.m.

James Madison University

6-15, 4-4

College of Charleston

16-5, 7-1

James Madison

Col. of Charleston

1/21/2017 8:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score 2016-17 Schedule 2016-17 Statistics @JMUMBasketball

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Senior forward Paulius Satkus racked up 20 points and five rebounds on Saturday evening, but College of Charleston used a 16-3 run in the second half to hand the Dukes a 73-60 loss in Colonial Athletic Association action at TD Arena.

The Dukes (6-15, 4-4 CAA) erased an 11-point first-half deficit to take a pair of leads after halftime, but Charleston (16-5, 7-1 CAA) went 9-of-19 (47.4 percent) from the field and 21-of-26 (80.8 percent) from the free throw line in the second half to pull away.

Satkus was brutally efficient on the evening, going 9-of-14 from the field on an array of shots to clear 20 points for the second time this season. The performance lifted Satkus' CAA scoring average to 11.6 points per game.

Junior guard Joey McLean tallied 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including a 3-of-4 night from the three-point line, while junior guard Ramone Snowden matched his season high with 13 points after going 6-of-8 from the charity stripe.

The Cougars put JMU in a hole at the end of the first half, using a 5-0 spurt to take a 31-20 lead with 2:16 to play before halftime. After a Satkus jumper, however, the Dukes scored the final seven points of the half, adding a 7-2 run right out of the break to take a 34-33 lead at the 16:51 mark.

Charleston would respond immediately, however, using a 16-3 run of its own to stretch its lead to 54-41 with just 8:20 to play. The Dukes would chip away, cutting the advantage to 62-54 on a Satkus free throw with 3:06 to play, but the Cougars made 11 of their last 12 free throws to seal the contest.

Guards Joe Chealey and Grant Riller each tallied 17 points to lead Charleston, combining to go 17-of-20 from the free throw line, while sophomore Jarrell Brantley added 15 points and eight boards. As a team, the Cougars went 28-of-35 (80 percent) from the stripe, including a 21-of-26 clip after halftime.

QUOTING COACH ROWE
"That's a tough loss to a good team. They took us out of our game plan tonight, especially in the second half when we tried to go one-on-one a little too much. Paulius gave us some great minutes tonight, but we need to comeback and get ready for a big game Thursday."

AROUND THE CAA
8-0 | UNCW
7-1 | College of Charleston
5-3 | Northeastern
4-4 | Elon
4-4 | Towson
4-4 | James Madison
3-4 | William & Mary
2-6 | Hofstra
1-6 | Drexel
1-7 | Delaware

UP NEXT
The Dukes have a stern test on Thursday, Jan. 26, when first-place UNCW comes to the JMU Convocation Center for a 7 p.m. contest. The Seahawks bested Drexel at home on Saturday afternoon to push their winning streak to eight games and improve to 19-2 (8-0 CAA) on the season.