HARRISONBURG, VA – Host James Madison opened the second half with a 10-0 run to break away from a seven-point halftime lead and cruised to a 62-47 Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball victory over the University of Delaware Wednesday night at the JMU Convocation Center.

Delaware, winners of two of its previous three games after an 0-9 start, got another big effort from junior forward Herb Courtney (at right), who scored a game-high 25 points and pulled seven rebounds, but had no other players in double figures to fall to 2-11 (0-2 CAA).

James Madison, which had lost six of its previous seven games, won for the second straight game to improve to 4-8 (1-1 CAA) as Pierre Curtis scored a game-high 19 points, Juwann Jones scored 13 points, Joe Posey added 12 points, including four three-pointers, and Terrance Carter added nine points and nine rebounds. The Dukes entered the game ranked last in the CAA in points allowed per game but posted their best defensive effort of the season in holding the Hens to a season-low 47 points for the second straight game. JMU also hit 7 of 14 three-pointers for the game and held a commanding 35-19 rebounding advantage.

“This was a major setback for us,” said Delaware head coach Monté Ross. “If we don’t play with heart, passion, and desire every minute, something like this will happen. We were missing those things tonight. Give James Madison credit. They played 40 minutes and played like they were hungry. Unfortunately we took a step back after the momentum we built last week in Philadelphia.”

The Hens, in the midst of an eight-game road swing, lost their fourth straight regular season CAA game since last season while the Dukes snapped a five-game CAA regular season losing streak. Delaware lost for just the second time in 11 all-time meetings with James Madison and fell to 4-2 at the JMU Convocation Center.

Sam McMahon added eight points and four rebounds while Calvin Cannon contributed six points for Delaware. Courtney led the Blue Hens in scoring for the sixth straight game and hit the 20-point mark for the fifth time in the last six outings. McMahon hit two three-pointers but the Hens were just 4 of 18 from beyond the arc for the game.

Despite a slow start, Delaware trailed just 13-11 with 9:14 left in the opening half. But James Madison reeled off 10 straight points to go up 23-11 with 6:09 left and ended the stanza up 29-22.

James Madison scored the first 10 points of the second half to go up 39-22 as the Dukes held Delaware without a field goal until the 12:10 mark. The Hens narrowed the deficit to 42-32 with 10:08 left, but Posey followed with back to back three-pointers to up the lead to 16 points and Delaware never got to within single digits the rest of the way.

The Dukes built their biggest lead at 61-40 after two Curtis free throws with 1:17 remaining before Chris Prothro hit a three-pointer, Cannon converted a driving layup, and Courtney added two free throws in the final minute.

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