Dukes Blitz East Carolina in 99-89 Victory

Saturday, November 30

Harrisonburg, Va.

4 p.m.

James Madison University

5-3,0-0CAA

East Carolina

2-6,0-0AAC

East Carolina

James Madison

11/30/2019 7:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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HARRISONBURG, Va. - Juniors Dwight Wilson and Matt Lewis notched double-doubles to lead five players scoring in double digits on Saturday afternoon, leading the way as James Madison picked up a 99-89 win over East Carolina in non-conference men's basketball at the Convocation Center.

The Dukes (5-3) bounced back with one of their best offensive performances of the season against the Pirates (2-6), hitting 31 of their 52 shots (59.6%), including 15 of 24 (62.5%) in the second half, while knocking down 12 of 26 (46.2%) three-pointers.

Wilson and Lewis led the charge, as Wilson racked up 16 points and 15 boards in his first start of the year, while Lewis matched the 16 points--all in the second half--and tallied a career-high 10 assists while committing just two turnovers in 33 minutes.

Junior guard Darius Banks racked up 22 points to lead all scorers, going 7-of-10 from the field and 4-of-7 from deep, while freshman Michael Christmas erupted to hit all six of his shots and all five of his three-pointers on his way to 18 points. Sophomore guard Deshon Parker added 10 points of his own to go with four assists and three boards.

The Dukes charged out of the gate, using a 13-2 first-half run to build up a 15-point margin before taking things into halftime with a 46-39 lead. After ECU cut things to 48-43, JMU ran off 11 straight points to immediately push the advantage to 16, carving out a lead as big as 75-51 with 9:29 to play before the Pirates whittled away down the stretch.

QUOTING COACH ROWE
"I'm very happy with a strong performance from everybody we called upon tonight. We needed good minutes from a lot of people and everyone answered the bell. We still have things we need to clean up and things we have to work on, but I'm proud of the way we came out after a tough loss on Tuesday and got right to work against a good ECU team."

QUICK HITS
- Junior Darius Banks picked up the 117th steal of his career on Saturday, joining the program's all-time top-10 list in a tie for 10th with Dwayne Broyles (2000-04).
- For the fifth time this season, a JMU player pulled down at least 13 boards, with junior forward Dwight Wilson grabbing 15 to match the Dukes' current season high.
- Junior Matt Lewis jumped two spots on JMU's all-time scoring list, closing the day in 22nd with 1,152 points, just 51 behind Andrey Semenov (2008-14| 1,203).
- Freshman forward Devon Flowers provided crucial minutes in his first extended action this year, coming off the bench to drill a pair of threes and block two shots across seven minutes.
- Lewis' 10 assists on the night were the most by a JMU player since then-junior Ron Curry notched 11 in an 82-73 win over Hofstra on Feb. 28, 2015.

UP NEXT
The Dukes will hit the road this coming week for their first game away from home since Nov. 20, traveling south to Radford for a 7 p.m. matchup on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Earlier this week, the Highlanders dropped an 80-63 decision at Monmouth to fall to 2-4 on the season and will have a full week off before facing JMU.