Ample sunshine. Excessive 54F. Winds NW at 10 to fifteen mph..
Clear skies. Low 31F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Up to date: March 11, 2024 @ 6:09 am
Noah Freidel scored 28 factors to steer JMU over Texas State within the Solar Belt semifinals on the Pensacola Bay Middle, Pensacola Florida (Jimmie Mitchell/SBC Photographs)
Noah Freidel scored 28 factors to steer JMU over Texas State within the Solar Belt semifinals on the Pensacola Bay Middle, Pensacola Florida (Jimmie Mitchell/SBC Photographs)
PENSACOLA, Fla. — By the point James Madison took the ground Sunday night time on the Pensacola Bay Middle, the Dukes had turn into the clear-cut favourite to win the Solar Belt Event title. However first to even get to the title sport, JMU needed to get previous Texas State, and that wasn’t simple.
JMU, the second seed, held off a troublesome Bobcats squad to win 73-68 and advance to a convention championship sport for the primary time since 2013 when the Dukes gained the CAA. JMU will face No. 4 seed Arkansas State with an computerized berth within the NCAA Event on the road.
The Dukes gained their thirtieth sport of the season, which can or is probably not sufficient to get JMU into the NCAA Tourney with out a victory Monday. However that’s not one thing James Madison needs to depart to the choice committee after top-seeded Appalachian State bowed out to the Pink Wolves earlier on Sunday.
JMU constructed a 15-point lead within the first half solely to see the Eleventh-seeded, however crimson sizzling Bobcats come all the way in which again within the second.
“I can’t clarify how exhausting it’s, while you’re enjoying so properly and the subsequent factor you recognize the sport is tied,” JMU coach Mark Byington stated. “Then you definately acquired to determine what you’re product of. The sport was tied and we found out what we have been product of. It was an incredible, nice response.”
Noah Freidel scored 28 factors, together with going 9-for-9 from the free throw line whereas Xavier Brown added 11. The Dukes’ different starters — Solar Belt Participant of the Yr Terrence Edwards, Julien Picket and TJ Bickerstaff — went a mixed 8-for-26 from the sphere, although Bickerstaff did have a game-high 11 rebounds.
Even with their struggles, every of the trio made a key shot late. However it was Brown that acquired JMU’s offense going within the first half and Freidel who made the most important pictures within the second.
“I believe that simply goes again to our yr that we’re having,” Freidel stated. “Totally different video games all yr, totally different gamers have stepped up and hit large pictures in large moments.”
Brandon Love, who completed with 17 factors, had two fast baskets because the Bobcats took an early 6-0 lead earlier than Edwards scored a putback to get JMU on the board. Michael Inexperienced continued his sizzling begin to the event for the Dukes, checking in and hitting a 3-pointer to tie the sport at 12-all about seven minutes in. Inexperienced then hit Jaylen Carey going to the rim and a pair of free throws from the freshman gave the Dukes their first lead.
However Love continued to be efficient within the paint for Texas State, hitting all 4 of his subject aim makes an attempt within the first half.
Xavier Brown was excellent on a deep triple then Bickerstaff scored 4 straight factors to provide JMU a 11-point lead with seven minutes left within the first half. Brown continued to let it fly from properly past the 3-point line and his third of the night time gave the Dukes a 37-22 benefit with lower than two minutes to go earlier than halftime.
“This can be a excellent group that we performed towards,” Texas State coach Terrence Johnson stated. “Nicely coached and uber gifted. It simply exhibits that we’ve acquired to complete performs if we’re not going to get to the free throw line.”
However the Bobcats closed the half with seven straight factors to chop the result in eight on the break and Love scored the primary 5 factors of the second half to shortly make it simply 37-34 Dukes.
Freidel acquired going for JMU and put up eight fast factors of his personal, together with a 3-pointer as Texas State’s Dontae Horne was referred to as for a foul away from the ball to make it a nine-point lead once more.
However Texas State chipped away once more and a comply with dunk from Love adopted by a Joshua O’Garro layup made it 55-53 JMU with lower than 10 minutes to play. Love picked up his fourth foul moments later and went to the bench, however Horne acquired to the lane and tied it up because the Bobcats seized momentum.
However Edwards acquired a spinning left-hander to drop to finish the 10-0 Bobcats run and Freidel drained one other key triple to make it 60-55 with lower than 5 minutes to go, reawakening the JMU crowd.
Bickerstaff adopted a Brown miss after which JMU pressured a 10-second violation within the backcourt, resulting in a baseline dunk from Picket to place the Dukes forward 64-57 with lower than three minutes remaining.
Edwards acquired to the basket and put JMU up by 5 with lower than 30 seconds left, then Freidel tried to take a cost on the opposite finish. As an alternative he was referred to as for the block and a three-point play for Horne made it 67-65.
Freidel and Brown every hit a pair of free throws as JMU tried to ice it, however the Dukes additionally stored fouling unintentionally and Texas State trailed 71-68 with 10 seconds left earlier than Freidel hit two extra on the line to complete off the feisty Bobcats.
{{description}}
E mail notifications are solely despatched as soon as a day, and provided that there are new matching objects.
Your remark has been submitted.
Reported
There was an issue reporting this.
Log In
Preserve it Clear. Please keep away from obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming one other individual won’t be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anybody or something.
Be Good. No racism, sexism or any form of -ism that’s degrading to a different individual.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' hyperlink on every remark to tell us of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to listen to eyewitness accounts, the historical past behind an article.
No subscription is required to enroll in Information-Report newsletters. Some hyperlinks might take you to tales that require a subscription after a restricted variety of free views.
Success! An e-mail has been despatched to with a hyperlink to verify listing signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Get highschool sports activities protection Monday by means of Saturday mornings!
Signal as much as keep updated with our every day headlines.
Native climate delivered every morning to your inbox.
We’ll ship you e-mail alerts as information occurs.
Your weekly roundup of sports activities information from the Solar Belt Convention, delivered Monday morning.
Classifieds from the paper, direct each weekday to your inbox.
Obituary notices, delivered every day.
Compensate for the tales which have individuals studying and speaking. Get our prime 10 tales from the previous week delivered each Saturday morning.
Your browser is outdated and probably weak to safety dangers.
We advocate switching to one of many following browsers:
