Turnovers Fell Dukes at East Carolina

Saturday, December 19

Greenville, N.C.

1 p.m.

James Madison University

2-2

East Carolina

6-1

James Madison

East Carolina

12/19/2020 5:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score @JMUMBasketball JMU MBB on Instagram Box Score

GREENVILLE, Va. - Senior guard Matt Lewis racked up 19 points on Saturday afternoon, but 19 turnovers took their toll as James Madison dropped a 73-64 decision at East Carolina in non-conference men's basketball at Minges Coliseum.

In their first action since a win on Sunday, Nov. 30, the Dukes (2-2) performed well on the glass, racking up a 38-33 rebounding advantage, but couldn't dig out of a hole as the Pirates (6-1) held JMU to 21-of-53 shooting (39.6%), including just a 10-of-28 (35.7%) clip in the opening half.

Lewis led the way on the offensive end, but added six rebounds, three assists and a block in a complete performance, while freshman forward Justin Amadi added 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting in his first collegiate start.

After going into the half trailing 33-25, the Dukes kept the deficit to single digits until an 8-1 ECU run pushed the advantage to 59-43 with 8:20 to play. JMU would not get push the lead back below 10 until the final two minutes.

Brandon Suggs paced four ECU players in double figures with 18 points , while Bitumba Baruti added 16 points and seven rebounds.

QUOTING COACH BYINGTON
"First and foremost, we're excited and thankful to play basketball again. Today, we looked like a team that hadn't played in 20 days and now we have something to build upon. I thought our guys worked and played really hard, considering the situation, and we just have a lot to clean up. We're happy to be able to play tomorrow and have a chance to do just that."

QUICK HITS
- Freshman guard Terrence Edwards came off the bench for strong minutes for JMU, racking up five points and eight boards, including three on the offensive end, in just 19 minutes.
- With his three assists on Saturday, Matt Lewis now has 287 in his career, just nine outside of the program's all-time top 10.
- Junior Jalen Hodge opened his JMU scoring account, hitting a trio of three-pointers in the second half to tally nine points.
- Freshman Terell Strickland grabbed two more assists on Saturday, giving him 14 through his first four collegiate games.

UP NEXT
The Dukes will be back in action quickly, having scheduled a 5 p.m. bout against Alice Lloyd College on Sunday evening at the Atlantic Union Bank Center.