JMU Shocks VCU, Move to Top off CAA

It’s got to be hard for the JMU faithful to believe Wednesday’s 62-61 win over VCU at the Convocation Center.

The Dukes not only won at the buzzer on a Juwann James lay-up, but led at halftime and had to overcome four separate second-half deficits.

These kind of feats against a Colonial Athletic Association team wouldn’t have been imaginable a year ago, or two years ago, or maybe three, four, five, six and seven years ago.

At 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the CAA, JMU has won half as many games as Coach Dean Keener won in his first three years at the helm. Oh and if you don’t think Keener knows it think again.


Following the roller coaster, back-and-forth game that saw 11 lead changes and nine tied scores, Keener rejoiced.

The referees quickly convened at mid-court in front of the scorer’s table and agreed that the bucket was scored in time. Keener, in a sense, made it official for the 2,997 in attendance when he pumped both fists in the air, following the discussion.

Keener then grabbed the public address microphone, pleading with the fans to bring someone else with them on Jan. 12 when Madison returns home to face UNC-Wilmington.

“I kind of had it in my mind that if we won the game I had to talk to the fans,” Keener said. “One of the biggest things is protecting home court. And one of the things I’ve instilled in the guys is to make the Convo a tough place to play.”

The fans buying in, is a matter of time and inevitable if the wins keep coming. The team can also take consolation knowing that the game was played during the mid-semester break.

But more important to the fans buying in, is the fact that it seems like the players have finally bought into this coaching staff and more importantly to each other.

The last minute of the game was just a microcosm of a tough battle between the conference foes, but a magnification rather of how much faith Keener’s recruits have in each other.

The newfound faith continued to grow with 58 second remaining in the contest when team leader, but notoriously shaky free-throw shooter Juwann James stepped to the line.

James didn’t even have two guaranteed shots as JMU was still in the one-and-one bonus. But he confidently stepped to the line swishing the front-end and just as smoothly stroking the back-end.

VCU junior Eric Maynor — who made a name for himself by leading the Rams over Duke in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament — answered James with a clutch time-out call.

After missing a runner, Maynor’s shot was tipped around until it came back to him as he was falling backwards. The conference’s preseason player of the year, signaled for time-out as he fell, retaining possession for the Rams. The offensive rebound also turned the shot clock off with 27 seconds left.

Following the time-out the Dukes got the ball out of Maynor’s hands, but VCU senior guard Jamal Shuler stepped up, hitting a runner with 10 seconds remaining.

JMU called time-out and set up its final shot which one could have assumed to be junior guard Abdulai Jalloh’s. Jalloh led the Dukes with 17 points, but Keener wisely used the explosive scorer as a decoy.

Sophomore guard Pierre Curtis instead took a screen at the top of the key from senior forward Terrence Carter and spun through the lane. Curtis could have gone up with his patented floater — that beat VMI last year at the buzzer — but instead found James cutting down the baseline. VCU freshmen forward Larry Sanders had little choice but to step in on the driving Curtis thus leaving James uncontested.

A year ago Curtis, or any other player on the team for that matter, may have elected to keep the ball and overlook the cutting teammate.

“It was a great move by Pierre and we just had to make an extra pass,” James said.

Conversely, Curtis was confident laying it off to his older roommate.

“At the last second I saw Juwann and dished off knowing he could finish it,” Curtis said.

That extra-selfless pass gave JMU the win and put it on the CAA map. The Dukes are now tied atop the league with Delaware and Old Dominion. That’s the former bottom-feeder of the Colonial is now ahead of the conference darlings of the last two years, VCU and George Mason.

And although there are 16 conference games remaining, it’s hard to overlook what the 2007-2008 Dukes have accomplished thus far.