Virginia Defeats JMU 55-50 | Live Updates
The Virginia Cavaliers (8-0, 1-0 ACC) defeated the James Madison Dukes (7-3, 0-0 Sun Belt) 55-50 on Tuesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. See a full play-by-play and live analysis for the game below. Most recent updates are at the top.
Read a full recap of the game here: Virginia Struggles Without Beekman, Holds Off JMU to Win 55-50
Final Score: JMU 50, Virginia 55
Ryan Dunn doesn't give Molson an inch on his drive to the basket and Molson is forced to throw a last-ditch pass that doesn't find its intended target and flies out of bounds for a turnover. That's two big-time plays for Ryan Dunn at the biggest moments of this game. UVA gets the ball inbounds to Clark, who is fouled right away. Clark's first free throw rattles out, but he swishes the second to put UVA up by 5. Ihenacho's corner three is off the mark and the buzzer expires. JMU took Virginia down to the wire for the second-straight season, but this time, the Cavaliers escape with the win. UVA remains unbeaten with a 55-50 win over JMU.
JMU 50, UVA 55 | Final
Ryan Dunn slashes along the baseline and finishes strong through contact for a clutch layup. Virginia goes back up by four. Morse misses a three-pointer and the rebound goes off of Dunn's hands and out of bounds. It will be JMU's ball down four with 15.6 seconds remaining.
JMU 50, UVA 54 | 15.6 2H
Clark inbounds to Vander Plas, who is stuck in the corner and chucks up a three that misses off the iron. Takal Molson isolates on Ryan Dunn and is able to glide past him for a layup, making it a 52-50 game with exactly 60 seconds left in regulation.
JMU 50, UVA 52 | 1:00 2H
McKneely misses the first free throw, but makes the second. Molson spins past a screen and drives on Gardner, banking in his shot plus the foul. Molson's free throw is off the mark and Virginia's lead stays at four points with less than two minutes to play.
JMU 48, UVA 52 | 1:27 2H
Clark can't complete the three-point play as his free throw is off the mark. Vado Morse steps back and hits a three-pointer over the late contest from Vander Plas and the Dukes are back to within five. With the shot clock winding down, Clark drives past Offurum and gets to the rack and Offurum fouls him to prevent the layup. That ends up being a good move as Clark misses both free throws. Gardner plays some great help defense, rotating over to block a baseline drive from Ihenacho, who steps out of bounds for a turnover. Offurum gambles and tries to steal the ball from McKneely, but McKneely hangs on and Offurum fouls out of the game.
JMU 46, UVA 51 | 2:01 2H
Gardner misses the first, but makes the second and the Virginia lead is back up to 47-42 as Gardner goes on a personal 5-0 run. Ryan Dunn sticks to Freidel like glue and gets a piece of his jump shot, which falls well short of the rim. Dunn is playing big minutes late for the second game in a row and giving UVA a big lift defensively. Ben Vander Plas is fouled, but makes only one of two free throws. Virginia is 9/15 from the charity stripe tonight. Franklin swats a pass away under the basket but is called for a foul, his 4th personal. Molson goes to the line and makes 1/2. JMU fouls Gardner away from the ball and he again makes 1/2 free throws. Kihei Clark makes a huge play, knifing to the basket and banking in a shot off the glass despite getting fouled hard by Amadi. Virginia goes up 51-43 with just over four minutes to play and JMU calls timeout.
JMU 43, UVA 51 | 4:08 2H
Justin Amadi draws a foul on Kadin Shedrick at the rim and makes both free throws, reducing UVA's lead back down to four points. Jayden Gardner has been playing some excellent on-ball defense in the second half. This time, he blocks Julien Wooden at the rim and grabs the ball on the way down. On the other end. Gardner is fouled away from the ball and makes both free throws. UVA commits back-to-back turnovers. On the second one, JMU takes the ball in transition and Gardner tries to swat Freidel's three-point attempt from behind, but ends up fouling him stead. Freidel makes all three free throws and the UVA lead is back down to three. Puzzlingly, JMU uses the 6'8" forward Offurum to full-court press Kihei Clark and Clark easily draws the foul. Clark misses the front end of the one-and-one, though. Ben Vander Plas gets an open look from three but misses it. It's been another off-shooting night for the Cavaliers, who have made only five of 20 three-point attempts. Takal Molson knocks down a three-pointer to tie the game at 42-42. Jayden Gardner muscles his way to the basket off the pass from Clark for a much-needed basket for Virginia. UVA gets a stop and then Gardner goes right back to work, pulling up for long jumper from just inside the three-point line. Virginia gets another big stop on defense as Molson's mid-range jumper is off the mark and Gardner drives to the basket and draws a foul. The JMU crowd that made the short trip from Harrisonburg had begun to make some noise when the Dukes tied the game, but UVA's fans were brought right back into the game with Gardner's baskets.
JMU 42, UVA 46 | 5:48 2H
Molson makes both free throws. After taking zero free throws as a team in the first half, JMU has already attempted six free throws in the first five minutes of the second half, making five of them. Kihei Clark takes a bump from Xavier Brown and banks in the floater plus the foul. Clark completes the three-point play at the line. Clark has his reverse layup attempt blocked and JMU tries to get out in the fast break, but McKneely stands his ground in transition and draws a charge on Tyree Ihenacho. Takal Molson gets the ball underneath the basket and is fouled by Ryan Dunn, his third personal foul. Molson makes both free throws and is up to 10 points in the second half alone. Vander Plas discards his defender in the low post and gets the pass from Clark for an easy flush. Shedrick is called for goaltending on Offurum's layup attempt. Edwards fouls Clark on a dribble drive and Clark makes both free throws. Clark has 15 points to lead all scorers.
JMU 34, UVA 40 | 12:10 2H
With Beekman expected to be out for the rest of the game, UVA starts the second half with a lineup of Kihei Clark, Isaac McKneely, Armaan Franklin, Jayden Gardner, and Kadin Shedrick. Takal Molson drives on Franklin and banks a lefty layup off the glass. On UVA's next possession, Franklin swings the ball to Kihei Clark, who splashes the catch-and-shoot triple from the left wing. Molson pulls up with Franklin's hand in his face and buries the heavily-contested three-pointer. Molson has been very aggressive to start the second half. This time, he drives on Franklin and draws a foul, making one of two free throws. Molson has each of JMU's six points this half. Clark draws 6'8" forward Mezie Offurum in an insolation play and uses a smooth step-back move to free himself for a three-pointer, his second of the half. Vado Morse draws a foul on Shedrick and makes both free throws. Kadin Shedrick continues his trend of taking shots to his face and exits the game with a bloody nose. Vander Plas has the ball stolen from him and Molson takes it the other way, drawing a foul on Ryan Dunn. He'll shoot more free throws on the other side of the timeout.
JMU 28, UVA 33 | 15:52 2H
Some early misses from Isaac McKneely have done nothing to deter his confidence, as he pulls a quick-trigger three off the feed from Clark and swishes it from the right wing. Ben Vander Plas draws a charge, but the refs call it a block and JMU takes advantage as Terrence Edwards hits a short floater. Jayden Gardner is bumped as he attempted a fadeaway jumper and goes to the line for two, but misses both free throws. Justin Amadi grabs an offensive rebound and lays it in to get JMU to 20 points just before halftime. Isaac McKneely gets a good look from three right before the horn but misses it. UVA takes a 27-20 lead to the halftime break.
JMU 20, UVA 27 | Halftime
Kadin Shedrick makes a great effort to save a ball from going out of bounds and fires a one-handed pass out to Armaan Franklin, who knocks down the three from the top of the key to put UVA ahead by 11 points. JMU answers on the other end as Mezie Offurum finds Freidel for a deep three from the right wing. JMU calls timeout.
JMU 16, UVA 24 | 2:57 1H
Still no Reece Beekman for Virginia. Vado Morse pulls up for a three-pointer in transition and drains it right over the hand of Taine Murray. Clark swings a cross-court pass to Murray, who slashes to the paint and dumps a pass off to Shedrick for an easy basket. Shedrick pins a layup attempt from Edwards against the glass, leading to a basket on the other end as Clark dishes to Gardner for a layup.
JMU 13, UVA 21 | 3:46 1H
Kihei Clark checks back into the game and with the shot clock winding down, races past his defender for an open layup. Takal Molson drives on McKneely and hits off the glass despite a good contest from McKneely. Both teams are not executing at a very high level right now, as both teams have made just one of their last eight shots. Armaan Franklin hits an off-balance fadeaway jumper as he was falling to the ground. Gardner comes up with a steal and Kihei Clark takes it the other way before feeding a pass to Ryan Dunn, who soars to the rim for a thunderous dunk, bringing the crowd at JPJ to its feet.
JMU 10, UVA 17 | 7:01 1H
Isaac McKneely receives the hand-off coming around a screen and drives strong through the lane before sending a bounce pass down low to Gardner for an easy layup - sweet play by the freshman McKneely to put the Cavaliers back in front. Kihei Clark attempts a three-pointer from the left wing and it's off the mark, but Morse makes contact with Clark after the shot, sending Clark to the line for three free throws. Clark makes two out of three. Clark is then replaced by Ryan Dunn as UVA goes with a lineup that features neither Clark nor Beekman - Isaac McKneely, Armaan Franklin, Ryan Dunn, Ben Vander Plas, and Kadin Shedrick. A few possessions are played with that lineup but neither team scores. Reece Beekman rejoins the bench and has an ice-pack on his right hamstring. It's unclear if he'll be able to return at this point.
JMU 8, UVA 11 | 11:28 1H
Reece Beekman gathers the tip-off and then kicks out to Armaan Franklin for a three-pointer from the right wing on UVA's first possession. JMU answers right away as Vado Morse throws a cross-court pass to Noah Freidel for a corner three. Jayden Gardner gets to his spot on the baseline off the feed from Franklin and knocks down the jumper. Kadin Shedrick alters Justin Amadi's shot, but Amadi is able to grab his own miss and lay it in off the glass. Jayden Gardner swipes away JMU's backdoor pass and Reece Beekman collects it before streaking down the court and finishing the basket in transition. Beekman lands awkwardly after the layup and play is stopped as Beekman limps to the bench and is replaced by Isaac McKneely. Gardner slaps out a rebound instead of grabbing it himself and the ball goes right to Vado Morse for an open three and JMU takes the lead. Beekman leaves the bench with trainer Ethan Saliba to get his hamstring looked at.
JMU 8, UVA 7 | 15:09 1H
