App State takes down James Madison

The Appalachian State Mountaineers defeated the James Madison Dukes 80-65 in what was a wire-to-wire victory. App State didn’t trail at any point during the game, jumping on James Madison early and never looking back. This was the first time this season that James Madison went an entire game without leading once.

App State scored the first 12 points of the game, hitting its first five shots of the game. James Madison didn’t score until the 16:49 mark of the first half. Once App State went up 19-7, James Madison did crawl their way back into the game with an 8-0 run, cutting the score to 19-15 after a layup by Justin McBride. App State had a response and led 38-27 at the half.

Alonzo Dodd led all scorers in the first half with 14 points. Michael Marcus Jr. for App State scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half, playing a big role in that lead with multiple baskets coming on offensive rebounds.

The Mountaineers scored the first five points of the second half, with James Madison calling a timeout with less than two minutes into the half. The closest James Madison got to in the second half was eight points when Cliff Davis knocked down a three with 14:33 on the clock to make it a 49-41 score. After that, App State pulled ahead and led by double digits the rest of the way. App State led by as much as 21 in the second half, being able to coast to the 15-point victory over James Madison in the first meeting this season between these teams.

Kasen Jenning was the one who put the game out of reach, scoring 18 points in the second half.

App State was led by guards Jennings and Dodd. The starting backcourt each scored 23 apiece on efficient shooting splits, with Jennings going 9-17 from the field and 5-10 from deep. Dodd shot 9-14 and grabbed 10 rebounds, which was a season high. Overall, App State shot 53% from the floor and made 13 threes.

Jennings broke out of a funk he had been in. After starting the season playing lights out, Jennings went into a slump over a five-game stretch where App State went 2-3. Over the previous five games before this one, he had been averaging 9.8 points while shooting 29% from the field and 21% from three. A night and day difference from the first 13 games of the season, where he averaged 15.8 points on 46% shooting and 43% three-point shooting.

McBride, who has been James Madison’s best player this season, had a rare off night. He struggled with only six points, his second-lowest scoring game of the season. McBride was also 2-15 from the field, which was his worst shooting performance of the season. Davis tried to pick up the scoring with 15 points and drilling five triples. Bradley Douglas also chipped in with 10, and Ike Cornish added nine. James Madison shot the ball poorly as a team, making only 35% of their attempts.

App State improves to 11-8 (4-3 Sun Belt) and will face Old Dominion on Saturday. James Madison drops to 9-9 (2-4 Sun Belt). They will be at Marshall on Saturday and look to bounce back after losing to them back on Jan. 7.

These teams will meet again on Feb 14.