Dukes Fall in Heartbreaker at Marshall

Thursday, January 9

Huntington, W.Va.

7 p.m.

James Madison University

9-7,2-2Sun Belt

Marshall

9-8,2-2Sun Belt

James Madison

Marshall

1/9/2025 10:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Redshirt senior Mark Freeman scored 31 points to lead all scorers, but James Madison men's basketball dropped a hard-fought, back-and-forth contest to Marshall, 80-78, on Thursday night at the Cam Henderson Center.

After trailing for a majority of the game, JMU (9-7, 2-2 SBC) tied the game on multiple occasions late and grabbed a 77-76 lead with 20 seconds remaining, but Marshall (9-8, 2-2 SBC) scored on its final two possessions to come away with the victory. The Thundering Herd tied a season-high 13 threes - seven coming from Jalen Speer, who finished with 27 points and a perfect 7-of-7 showing from behind the arc.

Freeman's 31 points was the redshirt senior's fifth career 30-point game and second in the past three games. Xavier Brown scored 12 points and tallied a season-high seven rebounds, while Elijah Hutchins-Everett finished with 11 points and six rebounds while eclipsing 1,000 career points.

Along with Speer's 27-point effort, Mikal Dawson scored 17 points and snagged eight rebounds. Marshall assisted on 14 of its 27 makes, while JMU recorded a season-low five assists.

How It Happened
First Half: James Madison 34, Marshall 32

Marshall built an eight-point lead at 22-14 with 8:27 to play in the first half, which forced a JMU timeout.
A putback dunk from Will Lovings-Watts sparked a 6-0 JMU run at the 6:11 mark, and the Dukes would tie it up at 25 with 4:38 to go in the first.
A Brown triple at the buzzer would give the Dukes the lead back going into the break at 34-32. From Marshall's largest lead of the half, JMU outscored the Herd 20-10 to close the first stanza.

Second Half: Marshall 48, James Madison 44

Marshall opened the second half on a 7-2 run to take a 39-36 lead at the 16:36 mark.
Both squads exchanged buckets as Marshall maintained a slim lead before a 6-0 run gave the Herd a 52-45 lead with 12:15 to play.
A Freeman layup sparked a 12-5 Dukes run to tie it up at 57-57 with 8:08 to play.
The teams exchanged runs as a Freeman triple tied the game at 71-71 with just over three minutes to play.
After finding themselves tied again at 73, Freeman got to the line with 45 seconds left and gave JMU a 75-73 lead.
After falling behind by one, Freeman made one of two foul shots with six seconds left to tie it again at 78.
A JMU foul put Marshall on the line with 1.1 left and converted free throws allowed the Herd to clinch the win.

Game Notes

Marshall improved to 3-7 against James Madison and 2-4 as Sun Belt foes.
Elijah Hutchins-Everett scored 1,000th career point on a free throw in the first half, the third JMU player to reach that milestone (Mark Freeman, Noah Williams)
The Dukes finished with a season-high seven blocks, with Ebenezer Dowuona picking up three.
JMU fell to 8-4 when leading at half this season and 0-5 in road games.