CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament

James Madison runs past Liberty, 88-65

March 23, 2009

Box Score

Kyle Swanston tied school record with nine 3-point field goals.

LYNCHBURG, Va., -- Senior forward Kyle Swanston (Spring Hill, Fla./Hernando) had two of his team-record-tying nine three-point field goals to start a 13-0 second-half James Madison scoring run and lead the Dukes to an 88-65 win at Liberty in the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Monday.

Swanston, who finished with a career-high 27 points, broke a 50-50 tie with a three-pointer with 13:17 to play and gave the Dukes a 56-50 lead with 12:36 remaining with another three-point field goal. JMU went on to lead 63-50 by the 11:10 mark of the final half and kept a double-figure lead the rest of the way.

The victory sends 21-14 JMU into the tournament semifinals against Old Dominion, a 70-62 winner Monday over Belmont. The game will be played at Old Dominion Thursday at 7 p.m. JMU and Old Dominion split regular-season Colonial Athletic Association contests. JMU won 70-62 Jan. 7 in Norfolk, and Old Dominion won 80-74 Jan. 28 at JMU. The tournament title game is March 31.

Bradley will host Pacific Wednesday in the other semifinal game.

Liberty finished its season with a 23-12 record.

Swanston hit on nine of 20 shots for the game, all from three-point range. He tied JMU’s game record for three-point field goals, set by Darren McLinton (1992-96) Feb. 17, 1996 against Virginia Commonwealth at the JMU Convocation Center. His 20 three-point shots are a team game record, bettering the previous mark of 16 by McLinton in the 1996 game against Virginia Commonwealth and Ray Barbosa (2003-06) Jan. 7, 2006 at home against Towson.

Swanston surpassed his previous JMU scoring high of 23, accomplished four times earlier this season.

JMU hit on 13 of 33 three-point attempts overall (39.4 percent), including eight of 15 tries (53.3 percent) during the second half. The Dukes shot 67.8 percent (19-28) overall during the final half after shooting but 35.0 percent (14-40) and falling behind 34-33 during the opening period.

Liberty shot only 38.2 percent (21-55) overall and but 34.5 percent (10-29) during the second half. The Flames hit on only five of 22 three-point attempts (22.7 percent) after hitting on an average of 9.3 three-pointers through their first 34 games.

Swanston had 15 points during the first half and 12 during the second, and the Dukes also got 18 second-half points from junior guard Pierre Curtis (Denver, Colo./East). Curtis during the final period hit on seven of nine shots, including a three-point attempt, and on three of four free throws. He also finished the game with seven assists and three steals after going scoreless during the first half.

Freshman guard Devon Moore (Columbus, Ohio/Northland) and freshman forward Julius Wells (Toledo, Ohio/Libbey) each added 14 points for JMU, and Wells had a game-high nine rebounds.

Guard Anthony Smith led Liberty with 26 points but with only six coming after halftime. He hit on six of nine shots, including three three-point attempts, during the first half.

JMU hit on five straight shots – three from three-point range – and Liberty missed on four straight shots and had a turnover during JMU’s decisive 13-0 second-half scoring burst. After Swanston gave JMU its 56-50 advantage and Liberty missed on a field goal try, Curtis scored on a layup for a 58-50 JMU lead at 12:18. After a pair of Flame misses, Wells had a three-pointer at 11:36, and scored on a dunk at 11:10 following a Liberty turnover.

Smith broke the JMU string of points with a layup at 10:53 to pull the Flames to within 63-52, but they got only as close as 66-56 at the 6:55 mark.

JMU’s lead reached 75-60 on Swanston’s ninth three-pointer at 4:15, and the Dukes’ final margin was the largest of the game.

During the first half the lead changed hands 10 times and there were six ties before Liberty scored five points during the period’s final 53 seconds after JMU had led 33-29

NOTES: JMU’s 21 wins equal the second-most victories JMU has had in a season. Only the Dukes’ 1981-82 team that was 24-6 and reached the second round of NCAA Tournament play has had more victories. That team had its season ended by eventual national champion North Carolina, a squad that included first-round NBA draft selections Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Sam Perkins... JMU played Monday without senior forward Juwann James (Jacksonville, Fla./Raines) and freshman forward Andrey Semenov (St. Petersburg, Russia/Blue Ridge School). James suffered a hand injury in JMU’s 69-58 CIT opening-round win over Mount St. Mary’s, and Semenov is sidelined by illness.