Strong Defense Pushes Dukes Past Marshall, 67-52

Saturday, January 20

Harrisonburg, Va.

6 p.m.

James Madison University

17-2,5-2Sun Belt

Marshall

9-11,4-3Sun Belt

Marshall

James Madison

1/20/2024 9:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The James Madison men's basketball team used a 12-0 run in the second half to fuel a 67-52 Sun Belt Conference victory over Marshall on Saturday night at the Atlantic Union Bank Center.

Xavier Brown made his first collegiate start and Jaylen Carey played vital minutes off the bench as the two underclassmen combined to score 17 points. Terrence Edwards Jr. led the team with 20 points to go along with four rebounds and five assists. Noah Freidel was the only other Duke to score in double figures as he had 14 points in addition to eight rebounds.

Entering the contest tied in the conference standings with identical SBC records, JMU (17-2, 5-2 SBC) was able to gain an edge on the Thundering Herd (9-11, 4-3 SBC) with the win at home.

How It Happened
1^st Half

Xavier Brown hit a three-pointer and then Noah Freidel also connected from long range immediately after the first media timeout to put JMU up 8-6.
Marshall made four of its first nine 3-pointers (.444), but failed to connect from long range again for the remainder of the half.
The teams were tied 12-12 after the first nine minutes of action.
The largest lead in the first 15 minutes was a 20-16 JMU advantage, but the Thundering Herd would not let the Dukes pull away. Marshall made four of its next five shots from the field to fuel a 6-0 run over a two-minute span and took a 22-20 lead with 4:50 left in the half.
Marshall regained a 25-24 lead with 3:31 left, but it would be the last time it was in control.
Terrence Edwards Jr. led the JMU charge after grabbing a defensive rebound and scored with a left hand shot to put the Dukes up 28-25 with 2:42 left in the half.
Freidel had seven first-half rebounds for the Dukes and Keyvon Voyles scored 11 points in the first half for Marshall.
Both teams shot less than 35% in the first half, and each had 20 rebounds.
Edwards Jr. made two free throws to close out the scoring in the first half and gave the Dukes a 32-29 edge going into halftime.

2^nd Half

Noah Freidel hit a 3-pointer out of the gates in transition to start the half.
The Dukes pulled up to a 10-point advantage with 17:06 remaining, which was its largest lead of the game to that point (39-29).
Marshall cut the deficit to five on a 3-pointer by Wyatt Fricks.
JMU went on a 8-0 run over the next two minutes to build its lead up to 45-34.
Marshall made just two of its first 15 shots (.143) and turned the ball over five times in the opening 10 minutes of action.
James Madison controlled the entire second half, while Terrence Edwards Jr. shot over 55 percent in the last 20 minutes of action, scoring 13 points and dishing out four assists.
The Herd had another scoring drought for six minutes and JMU gained a 15-point advantage.
Kamdyn Curfman led the Herd, scoring 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half.
JMU opened up its largest lead of the game making it an 18-point game with 1:40 left (65-47). Noah Freidel hit the final two free throws to close out the scoring.

Other Notes

JMU improved to 5-2 in the all-time series with Marshall.
In his first career start, Xavier Brown finished with seven points and grabbed four rebounds.
The Dukes outscored the Thundering Herd 38-10 in the paint.
JMU held the advantage in steals (8-5) and fast break points (18-4). Moreover, the Dukes forced 14 turnovers, which resulted in 13 points.
Edwards Jr. scored in double figures for the 56th time in his JMU career, finishing with 20 points for the sixth time this season, while also adding four rebounds and five assists.
The Dukes moved to 9-1 at the Atlantic Union Bank Center this season.
JMU held Marshall to a season-low in points (52) and field goal percentage (.300). The 52 points are the lowest for Marshall since scoring 50 vs. UAB on Jan. 11, 2020.
Entering today's game, JMU owned the 20th-ranked three-point defense nationally at 33.8 percent and held the Herd to 24 percent (8-of-34) from behind the arc.
Carey finished with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting (.833) in 14 minutes off the bench. The freshman center also swatted two blocks and added two rebounds.
Freidel made 4-of-7 (.571) 3-pointers which marked the seventh time he has recorded three or more 3-pointers in a game this season.
JMU out-rebounded Marshall 44-39, which included 11 offensive rebounds. In 19 games this season, the Dukes have won the rebounding battle 17 times and own a +5.6 average rebounding margin.
The 52 points is the lowest allowed by JMU team in conference play since a 58-45 win over ULM on Jan. 28, 2023.
T.J. Bickerstaff corralled double-digit rebounds (11) for the ninth time this season. He leads the Dukes with 8.9 rebounds per game.

What's Next

The Dukes travel to Norfolk to face Old Dominion in the second TowneBank Royal Rivalry Challenge matchup of the season. JMU has already played on the road against ODU, taking a 84-69 win in their ninth game of the season. The teams will play for a third time of the season as the rivalry game is set to then come to Harrisonburg on Saturday, February 3^rd.
After ODU on Wednesday, the Dukes play App State on the road with a nationally televised game in Boone, N.C. This matchup is scheduled to broadcast on either ESPN 2 or ESPNU.