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Radford University Athletics

Home Of The RadFord Highlanders RadFord Highlanders
djonkam
Dan Garcia
59
Radford Rad 0-3,0-0 Big South
67
Winner James Madison JMU 2-1,0-0 CAA
Radford Rad
0-3,0-0 Big South
59
Final
67
James Madison JMU
2-1,0-0 CAA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Radford Rad 25 34 59
James Madison JMU 34 33 67

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Djonkam’s Big Night Not Enough as Radford Drops Contest to James Madison

HARRISONBURG, Va. – Lewis Djonkam's big night wasn't enough as the Radford men's basketball team fell to James Madison, 67-59, on Sunday night inside the Atlantic Union Bank Center.
 
The original start time of 7 p.m., was pushed back an hour and a half due to an overabundance of caution with a potential contact tracing situation related to an official scheduled to work the game.
 
Once the ball was tipped, Lewis Djonkam got his career-night started when he scored the game's first points within the first 20 seconds of tip-off. That was the last time the Highlanders led in the game, despite Djonkam's first career double-double. He had 10 points and 11 rebounds, both career-highs for the redshirt junior.
 
He was one of three players to score in double-figures as Fah'Mir Ali led with a season-high 15 points, followed by Quinton Morton-Robertson's second straight 10-plus point game with 11. Ali led all players with four assists and chipped in five boards as well.
 
After Radford (0-3) scored the first points of the game, JMU scored nine unanswered until the Highlanders answered with five in-a-row and cut the deficit to two right before the under 16-minute media timeout.
 
James Madison (2-1) went on a 19-5 run over the next eight minutes and led by 16 points, 28-12, – its largest lead of the game. The Highlanders began to chip away and made a 10-point game with 3:29 remaining in the half.
 
Dante Moses, who's first points of the game cut the Duke lead to 10, scored Radford's final seven points of the first half. He was the spark that ignited Radford to an 8-4 run to close out the half and keep the game within striking distance, despite the 11 turnovers in the first half.
 
Just as they did the night before, Radford came out hot in the second half and cut the JMU lead from nine to three at the 14:21 mark thanks to sharp free throw shooting by Shaquan Jules and Ali.
 
However, James Madison hit a few jump shots over the next five minutes to put themselves back ahead by nine, 47-38, with 10:34 to play. Radford was able to downsize the deficit to four points with just under eight minutes remaining, but Vado Morse and Matt Lewis were too much to handle in the game's final possessions.
 
Together, the two of them scored James Madison's final 19 points and secured the victory for the Dukes. Morris led all players with 26 points, while Lewis was second among all scorers with 18.
 
Stat of the Game
Radford committed 21 turnovers against the Dukes. It's the most turnovers committed since Feb. 3, 2018 when the Highlanders had 20 against Winthrop. James Madison scored 25 points off those turnovers.
 
Inside the Box Score
Radford shot 40.0 percent in the game, while JMU only shot 40.7 percent. However, the Dukes shot 33.3 percent from long range, while Radford shot 22.2 percent. The Highlanders outrebounded the Dukes, 42-31, and have led in rebounding every game this season. Radford's bench was responsible for 61.0 percent of Sunday's scoring as the Highlanders had 36 bench points, to JMU's eight. Aside from Ali's 15 points; Jules, Moses and Xavier Lipscomb had seven points each.
 
Tweet of the Game  
Quotable
"Obviously it's not the outcome we wanted," Mike Jones said. "We've learned that we have a team that is willing to fight to the end. We've been down a lot in these last two games and we've fought back every time. Unfortunately, we shot ourselves in the foot tonight. I think we shot ourselves in the foot when we got it down to one or two possessions. We just can't do that against a good team."
 
Up Next
With Mars Hill currently battling COVID-19 issues, the status of Wednesday's game is within question. Radford's next game is in Greenville, N.C., against East Carolina on Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
Follow Radford Men's Basketball
To follow the Radford men's basketball team, visit RadfordAthletics.com, follow @RadfordMBB on Twitter, 'radfordmbb' Instagram or Radford Men's Basketball on Facebook.
 
 
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