Dukes’ home-court ‘Pride’ isn’t enough
Another loss overshadows a new career milestone for junior forward Juwann James
Posted on February 18, 2008
For the second time this season JMU found itself leading a blue and gold-clad team by three points at home with under a minute left in the game.
And for the second time this season they squandered the close margin with a one-point loss.
The Dukes lost to Hofstra 86-85 Saturday in a similar late-game fashion to a 66-65 loss to the Delaware Blue Hens on Jan. 23.
Unlike the Delaware game, JMU had possession for the final shot against the Pride.
With nine seconds left, sophomore guard Pierre Curtis looked to penetrate the lane after receiving a screen near half-court. The play was drawn up almost exactly like the one that led to junior forward Juwann James’ game-winning shot against Virginia Commonwealth on Jan. 2.
But JMU (11-14 overall, 4-11 in the conference) didn’t even get a shot off as Hofstra senior Antoine Agudio stole the ball, making sure his runner with 10 seconds left would be the game-winner.
“At the end of the day you’ve just got be able to come up with a stop,” JMU coach Dean Keener said. “Whether it’s securing a rebound or not allowing a middle drive. We just weren’t able to do that.”
Agudio’s game winning shot was a near encore of a runner he hit eight seconds earlier to get Hofstra (9-16, 6-9) within one.
Curtis – an 84 percent free-throw shooter going into the game – was quickly fouled by Agudio, but missed the front end of the one-and-one bonus.
“We got a lucky ball on the ground and you know Antoine, I don’t know how many guys in the country go do that,” Hofstra coach Tom Pecora said. “They make the game-winning shot, they’re their team’s leading scorer and then they dive and get the loose ball to win the game.”
JMU shot 52 percent from the field, but had no answer for Agudio, who scored a game-high 30 points.
The 6-foot-3, swingman scored 24 points in the first half with four 3-pointers as the Pride led the Dukes 46-45 at halftime.
Junior forward Juwann James led JMU with 16 points in the first half as he took advantage of Hofstra’s foul trouble in the post.
The Pride’s 6-foot-7 junior forward Mike Davis-Sabb picked up three fouls and 6-foot-10 center Dane Johnson had two.
“I think Dane Johnson woke up in the second half and had a post presence for us,” Pecora said. “That really allowed us to get more open looks from the perimeter.”
Johnson didn’t score in the first half but chipped in 11 in the final 20 minutes as Hofstra shot 63 percent.
JMU built three different six-point leads in the back-and-forth second half and led 80-74 with 4:43 remaining.
Hofstra clawed back and got the ball to Agudio despite the fact that he scored only once in the half before his last two shots with under 20 seconds to go.
“When it came down to the end of the stretch I felt like I needed to drive the ball and be poised,” Agudio said. “As soon as the ball left my hands I felt like it was going down.”
Junior guard Abdulai Jalloh led JMU with 24 points and seven rebounds and Juwann James grabbed a late steal and rebound to make him only the second player in school history to have at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 100 assists, 100 steals, and 20 blocks. Eugene Atkinson accomplished the feat from 1995-99. James finished with 22 points.
Agudio moved into second place in Hofstra history for career scoring at 2,161 points.
The Dukes will try to avenge a 79-52 loss to Old Dominion on Wednesday when the Monarchs travel to Harrisonburg. ODU handed VCU its first home loss of the season Saturday.
