“We didn’t make enough plays, especially down the stretch, on both ends of the court,” said ODU head coach Mike Jones. “It wasn’t pretty in the beginning, but we found our groove. Unfortunately, we went away from a lot of the things that got us ahead in the first half.”
JMU then fouled Davis Jr. with 25 seconds to go, but his attempt missed the mark, allowing the Dukes to gain possession and call a timeout with 20 seconds on the clock. Coming out of the break, the hosts got the ball down low to Gabe Newhof and he capped off the 9-0 run with a jumper to put JMU in front, 70-69.
The Monarchs advanced the ball and burned their final timeout with two seconds left. With Drew McKenna inbounding, he found Battle cutting to the basket and lobbed a pass to him, but the senior couldn’t get his shot to fall as Ike Cornish sent him to the floor. No foul was called, and JMU completed the comeback to split the regular-season series…