Tribe triumphs over Dukes
JMU loses twice in a week to William & Mary
By John Galle, sports editor
Posted on February 9, 2007

On a snow day in Harrisonburg on Wednesday, JMU’s campus wasn’t the only thing that was shut down.

The JMU men’s basketball game was played as scheduled Wednesday night, but the team only managed 25 percent shooting in the first half and 36 percent for the game, as William & Mary trampled the Dukes 71-56 at the Convocation Center.

With last week’s loss to the Tribe in Williamsburg fresh in their minds, the Dukes missed out on payback.

“I made a mistake,” JMU  coach Dean Keener said. “I made the game too big; I built this up for the last two days, everything from a revenge game to a game jockeying for position in the standings … should have just treated it as the next game.”

Everything was falling for the Tribe as they hit 76 percent of their shots in the second half and 54 percent for the game.

“At the end of the day, yeah, they shot a tremendous percentage in the second half, but you’ve got to make some shots,” Keener said. “And we just didn’t tonight.”

Junior forward Terrance Carter was the sole bright spot for the Dukes.

“He’s just a beast when he gets the basketball,” W&M coach Tony Shaver said, “particularly when they call that many fouls inside.”

Carter battled under the basket much of the night, earning 15 trips to the free-throw line. Twelve of Carter’s game-high 26 points came from the stripe, and he was just one rebound shy of a double-double.

“[Besides Carter], we never really found anybody else to help beat them,” Keener said. “No one else really gave us the necessary offensive productivity.”

W&M’s defense did not allow any second-half points from sophomore forward Juwann James, as they were doubling him before he even got the ball. James did have seven points in the first half, though, and was rested toward the end of the game.

“He was having a hard time catching his breath, so we sat him for the remainder of the game,” Keener said of James, who is recovering from a viral infection in his throat. “He hasn’t been eating real well and I think last night he said was the first night he got a good night’s sleep in some time.”

The Tribe defense also limited sophomore guard Joe Posey to 10 points in as many shots. W&M used a combination of man and zone defenses, but also allowed defenders to follow Posey, respecting his perimeter shot.

Keener said Posey had some opportunities in the first half, but they just didn’t go down for him, as he finished 2-of-7 from beyond the arc.

“I don’t put pressure on Joe, but he’s the one guy that we hope can make shots for us from the perimeter right now,” Keener said. “We don’t have anybody else that consistently [hits from long range].”

The Dukes hung with the Tribe in the first half, which featured seven lead changes. The Dukes found themselves up 22-21 with 3:36 left until halftime; however, W&M scored the last seven points of the period to take the lead.

“[When] they took that six-point lead, I sensed a little bit of dejection of sorts, or maybe some frustration at halftime,” Keener said, “but [I] thought we could find our way out of it.”

Unfortunately for JMU, the Dukes’ defense could not stop the Tribe’s dominating guard play or keep pace, offensively. As a result, W&M never trailed in the second half and had four of its starters finish in double figures.

“Obviously they were getting some open looks,” said freshman point guard Pierre Curtis, who had two points and four assists. “I don’t want to say we took a step back, but we did have some lapses in the second half.”

The Tribe was led by guards Adam Payton, Nathan Mann and David Schneider who had 18, 14 and 11 points, respectively. W&M forward Peter Stein also got hot, but in the second frame, when he scored 15 of his 17 points.

“At this point you’ve got to put it behind you,” Keener said.
Madison will look to rebound when it takse on Northeastern in the Convocation Center tomorrow night at 7 p.m.