February 22, 2010

BOX SCORE

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Longwood University dropped a 96-86 men's basketball decision on the road at James Madison University of the Colonial Athletic Association Monday night in Harrisonburg. The Lancers (11-18) were led by redshirt-senior Dana Smith/Woodbridge (C.D. Hylton) with game-highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds for his ninth double-double this season. The Dukes (12-17) were led by the Pierre Curtis with game-highs of 25 points and 10 assists. Longwood will play again on Thursday night, February 25, hosting North Carolina Central University at Willett Hall in its home finale and Senior Night beginning at 7 p.m..

Longwood opened the game with quite a display of shooting from three-point territory, making its first five attempts by five different players to take an early 19-9 lead at 14:50 as senior Kevin Swecker/Manchester, Md. (Mount Saint Joseph), sophomore Antwan Carter/St. Petersburg, Fla. (St. Petersburg), Smith, senior #E.J. Dawson#/Alexandria (Mount Vernon), and sophomore Martiz Washington/Hopewell (Christchurch) each connected. The Lancers continued their torrid shooting and took their largest lead of the contest at 40-25 with 4:41 left in the half after another three-pointer by Dawson, and the visitors still led 52-38 at 1:20 when Washington made the visitor's 11th three-pointer before halftime. James Madison, however, closed the half with a pair of three-pointers from Julius Wells to pull to within 52-44 at the intermission.

JMU scored the first five points of the second half to complete a 13-0 run while trailing just 52-51 at 17:55 as Wells made another three-pointer. Longwood got a pair of free throws from Swecker after a technical foul on Denzel Bowles at 17:45 for a 54-51 lead, but the Dukes managed their first lead since the opening minute at 55-54 with 14:58 remaining. A pair of free throws by Smith at 12:03 made it 61-60 before JMU took the lead for good at 62-61 with 11:14 left on a basket from Bowles. The hosts stretched the margin to 76-64 at 6:41, capping a 16-3 run as Bowles (5) and Wells (4) combined for nine points. The Lancers were within 86-79 at 2:44 after their only three-pointer of the second half by Swecker. JMU secured the outcome with 8-10 free throws over the final 1:01, including 4-4 by Curtis who finished 12-12 at the free throw line.

Smith led Longwood with his game-highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds for his ninth double-double, while moving into fourth-place on the all-time scoring list with 1,495 career points. Carter finished 17 points and nine rebounds for the Lancers. Swecker added 15 points (3-4 3FG), and Dawson had 10 points and six assists. LU shot 44% (27-62) from the field, including 55% (12-22) on three-pointers, and 80% (20-25) at the free throw line. The Lancers tied their season-high with 12 three-point field goals.

Curtis led James Madison with his game-highs of 25 points and 10 assists. Wells had 22 points for the Dukes, Bowles added 19 points, and Ben Louis finished with 17 points. JMU shot 41% (28-68) from the field, including 36% (8-22) on three-pointers, and 84% (32-38) at the line for the difference (+12) in the outcome. The Dukes now lead the all-time series between the two schools at 3-2 as each program has won on its home floor since the series began in 2005.

Longwood will recognize its four seniors on Thursday night against N.C. Central, including Smith, Swecker, Dawson, and Billy Robinson Jr./Columbia, Md.(Hammond). The Lancers lost on the road against the Eagles by a score of 81-78 on Feb. 13 in Durham, North Carolina as the hosts made 3-5 free throws in the final 2.4-seconds for the homecourt win.