Freeman’s 29 Points Lifts JMU Past Coastal Carolina, 73-64

Thursday, January 30

Harrisonburg, Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

13-9,6-4Sun Belt

Coastal Carolina

8-14,1-9Sun Belt

Coastal Carolina

James Madison

Freeman’s 29 Points Lifts JMU Past Coastal Carolina, 73-64

1/30/2025 10:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Redshirt senior Mark Freeman scored 29 points to lead James Madison men's basketball to its third straight win, downing Coastal Carolina, 73-64, on Thursday evening at the Atlantic Union Bank Center.

Freeman's 29 points came on 10-of-17 shooting and was the third time the native of Memphis has scored 25 or more points this season. JMU (13-9, 6-4 SBC) finished with a season-low two turnovers and out-rebounded Coastal Carolina (8-14, 1-9 SBC) 34-31.

Aiding in the scoring effort for the Dukes was Elijah Hutchins-Everett, who tallied 11 points and five rebounds. Xavier Brown and Bryce Lindsay added nine points each, while AJ Smith grabbed eight rebounds.

RaSheed Jones and Jordan Battle finished with 17 points to lead CCU, who finished with only five assists on 20 made field goals. Battle also led the Chanticleers with nine rebounds while adding nine points.

How It Happened
James Madison 36, Coastal Carolina 30

JMU hit its first four shots of the floor to grab a 10-5 lead at the first media timeout (15:55).
Following the timeout, Coastal Carolina scored seven unanswered points to shrink JMU's lead to one (13-12).
The Chanticleers outscored JMU 9-2 after the second media timeout to take their first lead (22-19) with just over eight minutes left. JMU answered with a pullup three from Freeman to tie the contest at 22-22 at the 7:53 mark.
The Dukes broke the tie with a second-chance layup from Hutchins-Everett to start a 14-4 run in which Coastal Carolina was held to 1-8 from the field Four points within the last minute from CCU's Denzel Hines closed the gap to single digits (36-30) at the end of the half.

Second Half
James Madison 73, Coastal Carolina 64

CCU started the half on a 9-2 run to give themselves the lead and force a timeout from the Dukes (39-38). Four of Coastal Carolina's points during this run came from the free-throw line.
The Chanticleers grew their lead to three before a pair of baskets from Freeman put JMU back in 47-46 with just under 12 minutes left.
Nine straight points from Freeman allowed the Dukes to grow their lead to seven (58-51) going into the under-eight media timeout.
JMU maintained their lead for the remainder of the game and held Coastal without a field goal for the final two minutes.

Game Notes

JMU is now 6-0 against Coastal Carolina and 4-0 against the Chanticleers in Sun Belt games.
JMU finished with a season-low two turnovers. In games where the Dukes have less than five turnovers, they are 4-1.
Freeman is 21-of-35 from the floor (.571) in his past three games and has scored 10 or more points in four straight. In Sun Belt games, the native of Memphis is averaging 16.1 points per game.
JMU is now 12-4 when leading at halftime, while Coastal Carolina is 0-11 when trailing at half.
Xavier Brown finished with two steals, bringing his career total to 100. This season, he leads the Dukes with 33 steals (1.5 per game)
Coastal came into today averaging 10.8 offensive rebounds per game in conference play. Tonight, they finished with only five.