HARRISONBURG — A week after going to UNC Wilmington where it snapped a five-game losing streak and picked up its first road win since November, James Madison is visiting Towson today to try to do it again.
The Dukes (10-14, 3-8 Colonial Athletic Association) had fallen to a spot alone in the conference cellar during the losing streak, but a victory against the Tigers would, at least temporarily, put JMU in a four-way tie for seventh.
Madison took care of Towson (8-16, 4-7) in their first meeting and as the regular season hits the home stretch, today’s game is key for moving up the standings and potentially avoiding having to play on the opening day of the CAA Tournament.
“We looked like a team that had won a game [in practice],” JMU coach Louis Rowe said. “It’s a young team and a lot of this stuff about road wins, rivalries, home games ... they are just young and playing. So it’s kind of a roller coaster. We needed a win and we needed some guys to step up and say we were going to find a way to win this game.”
In the shorter term, JMU is simply looking to carry some momentum in a season that has featured some extreme ups and downs.
“I obviously had higher expectations for our team,” Dukes senior guard Stuckey Mosley said. “But we’re still in the middle of the season so we still have an opportunity to achieve some of those goals.”
The 104-95 victory at UNCW might have been the most complete performance of the season for JMU. All five starters scored at least 14 points, led by Mosley’s 27. Sophomore Darius Banks broke out of a shooting slump in the second half to finish with 22, Matt Lewis had 19 points and five assists and freshman point guard Deshon Parker had a career-high 14 points with seven assists.
“Banks had a great second half and I thought Matt played one of his better floor games,” Rowe said. “Obviously, Deshon had a career-high in points, but what I thought they did more than anything, they were echoing the things we were saying in the huddle and getting guys in the right spots.”
The question now is if the Dukes can build off a victory in ways they haven’t often this season.
Today’s game is almost guaranteed to be a less free-flowing affair than the trip to Wilmington. Towson is last in the CAA in scoring at 66.5 points per game and third in scoring defense, allowing 70 points a contest. That’s a direct result of a rough-and-tumble style that the Dukes took a half to adjust to in the previous meeting.
Brian Fobbs has quietly had a huge season for the Tigers, averaging 16.2 points.
“Towson is so tough,” Rowe said. “They play really tough defense and crash the glass. They’ve got forwards that can really get on the rim. They have some physicality and some skill and they are playing to their style.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. in what is the third of three straight road games for the Dukes.
