Davidson beat James Madison University 85-65 Tuesday night in the opening game of the College Basketball Invitational at Belk Arena. Jake Cohen had 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 blocks. JP Kuhlman and Chris Czerapowicz added 14 points each for the Cats.
The Wildcats advance to a second-round game next Monday, March 21, at Creighton, in Omaha, Neb. Creighton beat San Jose State University Tuesday night, 85-74.
The win raised Davidson’s season record to 18-14. JMU fell to 21-12.
Devon Moore had 14 points to lead James Madison, while teammate Denzel Bowles added 12.
MAKING UP FOR CHATTANOOGA
The win was a boost after the Wildcats’ disappointing 71-64 loss to UNC Greensboro in the first round of the Southern Conference Tournament in Chattanooga March 4.
Davidson didn’t find out until last Thursday that it was in line for a bid to the tournament, which is sponsored by Zebra Pen and is airing on the cable channel HDNet.
Coach Bob McKillop said his team decided as a group they wanted to accept the unexpected post-season bid to the tournament.
“I’m overwhelmed by the disappointment of Greensboro and the Southern Conference tournament and the resilience in this team,” Coach McKillop said after the game.
“I really believe they were disappointed in the way they played (against Greensboro). They’re thankful, they’re grateful, they got another chance,” he said.
Cohen agreed: “We wanted to keep playing. … We felt we left things on a bad note in Chattanooga.”
SEIZING OPPORTUNITY
And the Cats took advantage of the second chance, showing great effort in practice in recent days, and then on the court Tuesday night, Coach McKillop said.
Davidson used big runs at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half to open up an insurmountable lead.
Davidson opened the game with three straight layups to make it 6-0. The Dukes came back to play the Cats even for most of the period. But they outscored JMU 15-7 in the last 4:22 to end the period at 42-34.
The Wildcats came out shooting in the second half. A series of baskets by Kuhlman, De’Mon Brooks and Frank Ben-Eze in the first 5 minutes extended the Cats’ lead to 54-37.
Czerapowicz came off the bench and began hitting baskets and grabbing rebounds. As the period neared the halfway mark, Czerapowicz and Brendan McKillop both hit 3-pointers, giving Davidson a 27-point lead, 73-46, with 10:20 left.
That was too much for the Dukes. The Wildcats held the margin above 20 points the rest of the way and took the win, 85-65.
GAME NOTES: Davidson, which had a lousy shooting percentage in its loss to Greensboro in the first game of the Southern Conference tourney, shot 50 percent on Tuesday night, including 46 percent (11-24) of its 3 pointers. … Davidson had 8 blocks on the night, including Cohen’s 5.
RELATED LINKS
Davidson vs. James Madison box score (PDF).
College Basketball Invitational website, with latest scores and brackets.
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