TOWSON, Md. — James Madison came into Saturday’s crucial Colonial Athletic Association contest with a clear focus on not allowing Towson second chances on the offensive glass. But that didn’t matter much when the Tigers barely missed down the stretch.
Towson shot 58 percent in the second half and Brian Fobbs dominated JMU on the way to 29 points and a 66-59 victory for the Tigers. For the Dukes, another significant lead slipped away as did an opportunity to rise up the conference standings.
“When you scout Towson, you know that’s how they play, they get a bunch of offensive rebounds to score,” JMU senior Stuckey Mosley said. “We tried to eliminate that and did a good job of that, but they found another way to score.”
JMU (10-15, 3-9 CAA) got 15 points from Matt Lewis and 14 from Mosley, all in the first half, but couldn’t overcome a long scoring drought in the middle of the game. The loss leaves the Dukes alone in last place in the conference.
Against a Towson team that came in leading the CAA in both rebounding margin and offensive rebounds, the Dukes controlled the boards to start the game. JMU allowed just two offensive rebounds in the first half and five for the game. Overall, Madison outrebounded the Tigers 38-31.
But Towson, Fobbs in particular, knocked down shots each time JMU threatened to gain any control in the second half.
“Everybody has a guy,” JMU coach Louis Rowe said. “On the road, you can’t let that guy get going like that. He got physical and got to his spots on the floor and once he gets going, he’s going to make an open 3. You’ve got to make it tough on him early because once he gets going he’s a really good player.”
Mosley came out scorching hot, as he’d been the past six games, nailing his first four field goal attempts to score 11 points in the first four minutes. JMU built an early nine point lead and trailed for less than 15 seconds in the first half. But as the Dukes cooled off and collected fouls, putting the Tigers in the one-and-one with six minutes left in the first half, Towson kept it close in the opening period and Madison went to the locker room leading 30-26 at the half.
Towson opened the second half on an 8-0 run as JMU went more than eight minutes without a field over period that stretched across both halves. But the Dukes continued to control the boards and a couple of driving buckets from Darius Banks, who finished with 11, got the lead back for JMU and the teams went back-and-forth from there before Fobbs began to take over.
The 6-4 junior guard scored inside and out and as the game hit the home stretch it didn’t matter what kind of defense the Dukes threw at him, overpowering Lewis in the paint and running off screens to escape Banks on the perimeter.
“Once a player like him gets a few shots going in, when he’s open the bucket gets bigger and bigger,” Banks said. “He got going and we didn’t cut his momentum off early enough.”
After snapping a five-game losing streak last week at UNC Wilmington, the Dukes entered the afternoon with an opportunity to move out of last place and into a tie for seventh in the CAA, and potentially only one game out of sixth.
Instead, JMU fell a game behind UNCW and face an uphill battle to avoid what amounts to a play-in round of the CAA Tournament next month. Fortunately for the Dukes, four of the final six regular season games are at home.
“We’re away of them,” Mosley said about the conference standings. “But we don’t pay attention. We come out and play the same way every game. We know we can win every game, so that’s how we play.”
