December 11, 2004

Virginia Tech/JMU box score

Virginia Tech 77, JMU 53

 

BLACKSBURG - Carlos Dixon scored a game-high 19 points as the Hokies snapped a two-game losing skid by downing in-state foe James Madison 77-53 in a non-conference game played in front of 9,847 fans at Cassell Coliseum on Saturday night.

With the win, Tech improved to 5-2 overall. James Madison fell to 2-3.

The Hokies broke open a close game near the end of the first half. Leading by just three, Tech went on a 20-3 run and took a 20-point lead on a Coleman Collins' stickback with 2:38 left in the first half. Dixon and Zabian Dowdell each scored seven points in the run.

Dixon scored 13 of his 19 points in the first 20 minutes. For the game, the redshirt senior hit 7-of-11 from the floor, including 3-of-3 from beyond the 3-point arc.

"I just let the shots come to me," said Dixon, who went over the 1,000-point plateau in the Hokies' loss at St. John's last Wednesday night. "I made some open shots and we got some steals, so I was able to get out in the open court and gets some easy buckets."

The Hokies ended up leading by 18 at halftime and never looked back. In the second half, the Dukes cut the lead to 12, but got no closer.

Tech forced 23 turnovers, which led to 27 points, and shot 42.9 percent from the floor (54.8 percent in the first half). But the key stat for the Hokies was rebounds. For the first time this season, Tech outrebounded an opponent, grabbing 39 rebounds to JMU's 31.

"I thought we did a better job of rebounding the ball," Tech coach Seth Greenberg said. "That's a good thing. We needed to get a win. We needed to get the kids feeling better about themselves."

Tech played the game without arguably its best player in Jamon Gordon. The sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., sat out with an elbow injury, but is expected to be back for the Hokies' next game - their ACC opener against North Carolina next Sunday.

Marquie Cooke, the freshman from Suffolk, Va., got his first career start in Gordon's absence and played well, scoring a career-high 12 points and dishing out six assists. Dowdell also finished with 12 points for the Hokies, while Collins added 10.

The game marked the return of Dean Keener, the current JMU head coach who is a former Virginia Tech assistant. Keener served two different stints in Blacksburg (1991-95 under Bill Foster and 1997-99 under Bobby Hussey). He took over the head job at JMU this summer after spending four years at Georgia Tech.

"I spent six great years here and know a lot of great people here," said Keener, who was without the services of his leading scorer, Daniel Freeman (stress fracture). "I'm upset we didn't play better. But hopefully this will be a great experience for us if we can learn from it. Ultimately, we'll be judged on how well we do in CAA play."

Tech takes the week off for exams. The Hokies hit the court for their ACC opener against North Carolina on Sunday at Cassell Coliseum. Tip-off is slated for 3:30 p.m.