Comeback Falls Just Short in Dukes' Bahamas Opener

Friday, November 17

Nassau, Bahamas

5 p.m.

James Madison University

1-2

Northern Kentucky

3-0

James Madison

Northern Kentucky

11/17/2017 9:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score @JMUMBasketball 2017-18 Statistics JMU MBB on Instagram Box Score

NASSAU, Bahamas - James Madison's second-half comeback fell just short on Friday evening, as the Dukes couldn't run Northern Kentucky down in an 87-78 loss in the opening round of The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase at Kendal Isaacs National Gymnasium.

The Dukes (1-2) saw a 20-point halftime deficit stretched to 61-36 with 14:38 to play and still trailed the Norse (3-0) by 18 with 6:41 left, but ripped off an 18-6 run to cut things to 84-78 before Northern Kentucky, ranked No. 11 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, was able to seal the victory.

JMU was able to flip the deficit with an 18-of-29 (62.1 percent) shooting performance in the second half after going just 7-of-33 (21.2 percent) in the opening period. The Dukes also held the powerful NKU offense to just 9-of-25 (36 percent) shooting after halftime as they cut into the lead. The Norse shot 48 free throws on the evening, making 34.

Junior guard Stuckey Mosley led the way for the Dukes again, racking up 20 points--his second 20-point performance in three contests--to go with four boards across 24 minutes. Three Dukes joined him in double-figures, as senior guard Joey McLean matched his season high with 14 points, while senior guard Ramone Snowden picked up 10 and freshman forward Zach Jacobs added 10 points and seven boards, both collegiate highs.

QUOTING COACH ROWE
"I was proud of the way we battled in the second half today, but we need to come out with that intensity and that drive from the start. We played really well and got shots to fall to cut into the lead against a really good Northern Kentucky team, but you can't give up that many baskets in transition and let teams of that quality get out to that kind of start."

QUICK HITS
- In the second half, from the 14:13 mark to the 12:34 mark, junior guard Stuckey Mosley used two three-pointers, two free throws and a layup to tear off a personal 10-2 run that included seven straight points.
- The Dukes racked up eight steals as a team on Friday, giving them 28 on the season through just three contests.
- Sophomore guard Antanee Pinkard performed well in his 16 minutes, double his previous career high, scoring six points while pulling down four boards and adding an assist.
- As part of its late comeback, JMU held the Norse without a field goal for the final 5:27 of Friday evening's contest.
- JMU racked up 54 points in the second half, the most for the Dukes since scoring 55 in the second half against Drexel in the first round of the CAA Tournament on March 3, 2017.
- The Dukes drained eight three-pointers, led by four from Mosley, to set a new season high for made threes. All eight came after halftime for JMU.

HITTING THE BOARDS
JMU performed well on the boards against Northern Kentucky, outrebounding the Norse by a 41-29 margin. That figure includes a stellar 16 offensive rebounds for the Dukes and pushed JMU's average rebounding margin to +7.3 on the season.

UP NEXT
The Dukes will take part in the second round of The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase on Saturday, Nov. 18, when they face Weber State at 2 p.m. On Friday, the Wildcats (2-1) fell to Iona in an 80-72 first-round decision.