HARRISONBURG — Fans, media and James Madison athletic department employees were busy crunching the numbers and digging deep into conference tiebreaker rules earlier in the week.
Entering the final pair of regular-season games with JMU steadily rising up the Colonial Athletic Association standings, so many possibilities existed for the Dukes, who went into Thursday night’s game against Elon with a shot to finish as high as fourth in the CAA standings.
But there was one possibility few in purple had given much thought: What if the Phoenix blew JMU off its own homecourt?
What seemed like a worst-case scenario to start the week became a reality with Elon cruising to a 73-58 victory in the Convocation Center.
Steven Santa Ana scored 20 points with nine rebounds and seven assists to lead the Phoenix while big man Tyler Seibring scored 18 on 6-of-9 shooting from behind the 3-point arc.
“They kicked our butt,” JMU coach Louis Rowe said. “I’m always worried. I’m always on edge. The trick is to convey that and get that to be the way my team plays. You always have to be on edge. You can never relax, and with this team, there’s a tendency to feel good.”
Good vibes were understandable as Madison (13-17, 6-11 CAA) came into the game playing its best basketball of the season. Winners of four of its past six and fresh off an upset of league-leading Hofstra, expectations had increased in recent weeks.
Coming off a career-high 40 points, JMU’s Matt Lewis started right where he left off on Long Island and nailed a 3-pointer in the left corner to open the game. The Dukes made their first three shots to build an early lead, but went cold about the time Santa Ana began to heat up for the Phoenix and Madison never had an answer.
Elon’s senior swingman made three 3s in the opening four minutes and helped spark a 14-0 run as the Phoenix (10-20, 6-11) built a double-digit lead. When Lewis went to the bench after picking up a charging foul eight minutes into the game — his second — JMU’s offense suffered.
“I thought we started out good, but didn’t have that killer, understand what’s on the line, go get a win attitude,” Rowe said. “You can’t walk down the ramp like that. Period.”
Despite Dwight Wilson, who finished with 12 points and five rebounds, getting some buckets in the paint for the Dukes as they briefly cut it to one, Elon stayed hot from deep in the first half and went to intermission with a commanding 38-24 lead. The margin quickly grew to 23 points as the second half began.
“We had good momentum going into halftime,” Seibring said. “We kept that going early second half. But the key was getting stops on defense and that way you can get out in transition and get some of those easy buckets.”
Darius Banks led JMU with 15 points and six rebounds while Lewis and senior Stuckey Mosley each struggled to get going after big games Saturday, finishing with 10 points apiece.
Now, in what’s been an up-and-down season for JMU dating all the way back to November, the Dukes head into March hoping to avoid a return to the CAA cellar.
Though a loss to William & Mary on Saturday would leave open the possibility of JMU finishing tied for last in the conference, all was not lost for the Dukes even after the blowout. A victory against the surging Tribe, winners of four straight, could make JMU the No. 6 seed in the CAA Tournament, depending on other results around the league.
That would be enough to earn an opening-round bye, but it won’t be easy and will require a much better effort on the part of the Dukes.
“It was a bad performance,” Mosley said. “It might have been our worst all season. We just didn’t come out ready. It showed the whole game and we owe ourselves more than that. So we are going to come out Saturday and be ready to play.”
