HARRISONBURG, Va., Feb. 13, 2010 – Sophomore forward Julius Wells’ (Toledo, Ohio/Libbey) three-pointer broke a tie and senior guard Pierre Curtis (Denver, Colo./East) sank four free throws in the final 17 seconds as James Madison took down VCU 76-71 in a Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball game Saturday evening at the Convocation Center.

JMU snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 11-15 overall and 4-11 in the CAA.  VCU fell to 17-7 overall and 9-6 in the league.  It was VCU’s second straight loss, both after leading by at least eight points at the half.

The game was a 66-66 tie following a Larry Sanders dunk and free throw by VCU with 2:04 to go.  JMU responded quickly with a three by freshman guard Darren White (Danville, Va./Dan River) from the top of the arc to move ahead 69-66 with 1:49 left, but VCU’s Joey Rodriguez answered with the tie with 1:17 to go.

On the next JMU possession, Wells found himself open at the top of the circle and drained his third three of the night to put JMU in front for good.

VCU’s Ed Nixon missed a three from the right side on the next Rams’ possession and Curtis corralled the rebound with 16.5 seconds to go.  He sank both free throws on the one-and-one opportunity for a 74-69 Dukes’ lead.

Freshman forward Trevon Flores (Harvey, La./Helen Cox) was whistled for a foul on VCU’s possession and Bradford Burgess hit both to cut the advantage to three with 10.2 seconds left.

Curtis was fouled on the inbounds and again hit a pair at the charity stripe for a 76-71 JMU lead.  On the final VCU possession, Rodriguez was trapped on the right side and Curtis stepped in to intercept the pass and seal the JMU victory.

The JMU win came despite losing leading scorer, junior forward Denzel Bowles (Virginia Beach, Va./Kempsville), who fouled out with 7:56 to go with a game-high 21 points.  He was whistled for a pair of fouls in a 34-second span with 13 minutes to go.  He returned to the contest with 8:25 left but was disqualified on his fifth foul on a rebound just 29 seconds later.

Wells chipped in 20 points for the Dukes, including 14 in the second half, to go with four assists.  He hit three of his six three-point attempts for the game and played just shy of the full 40 minutes.

Curtis went 8-for-8 at the charity stripe and collected 10 points, six rebounds, six assists, and a career-high five steals for the Dukes, adding to his JMU career records for assists (428) and steals (166).

White added 10 points, three assists, and two steals for the Dukes while Flores turned in one of his better performances with nine points, five boards, two blocks, and two steals.

The Rams were led by forward Larry Sanders with 15 points and 14 rebounds.  Jamie Skeen added 12 points and seven boards while Rodriguez posted 14 points, four rebounds, and four assists.  Nixon chipped in 11 points.

VCU led by eight, 41-33, at the break before JMU erupted for a 19-2 run to open the second half’s first five minutes.  A 10-2 spurt in the first two minutes tied the score at 43-43.  The Dukes continued with the next nine points in a row to grab their first lead since a 16-15 mark in the opening period.

JMU still led 62-55 with 6:27 remaining when VCU made its move to get back into the contest.  A Sanders putback ignited an 8-0 run, capped by his layup with 3:52 to go for the first lead for the Rams since the opening minutes of the half.

However, White answered with a quick jumper on the other end for the Dukes and VCU never led again.  Wells followed with an enthusiastic open slam on a fastbreak for a 66-63 lead with 2:30 to go.  That set up the three-point play by Sanders to tie and the decisive exchange of threes down the stretch.

VCU committed a season-high 22 turnovers thanks in part to a JMU season-best 13 steals.  The Dukes committed just 10 turnovers and held the Rams to 30.3% shooting in the second half after hitting 64% in the opening stanza (44.8% for the game).

JMU shot 45.8% from the floor and hit six of its 16 threes (37.5%).  The Dukes connected on just five of their 13 free throws in the first half, but responded with a perfect 11-for-11 in the second half.

The early minutes of the game were low scoring with tight defense and JMU either in front or tied through the first eight minutes.  VCU grabbed the lead at 16-15 on a Burgess layup as part of a 12-2 run for the Rams to move ahead 25-17 with 6:13 to go in the half.  JMU got as close as four before the Rams went into the break with the 41-33 lead.

JMU will be on the road for both of its scheduled contests next week, beginning with a 7 p.m. game on Tuesday at Georgia State.  That will be followed by a game on Saturday at Canisius at 7 p.m. as part of ESPNU’s BracketBusters event.

NOTES: In addition to his balanced stat line, Curtis also tied the JMU record for career games played with 119, matching Kent Culuko (1991-95)... Curtis now owns JMU career records for games, starts, minutes, assists, and steals... the Dukes used a rotation of just seven players in the game, compared to 11 by VCU... the Rams had won eight of the previous nine games in the series prior to the JMU win.