HARRISONBURG, Va. – James Madison used a 14-2 run in the first 4:49 of the second half to break open a tight game, and withstood a late Towson run to hand the Tigers a 61-52 defeat in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both teams Saturday afternoon.
 
The two teams exchanged baskets in the first minute of the second half before Tom Vondanovich converted a three-point play, and Jackson Kent knocked down a three-pointer to give the Dukes the 42-26 advantage.
 
The Dukes (8-6, 1-0 CAA) were able to maintain the double-digit lead for the next seven minutes before freshman Byron Hawkins knocked down a three with 7:02 left to play to make the score 50-41.
 
The three-pointer for Hawkins was the start of a personal run for the guard as he knocked down another three on the next possession, and then made it a four-point game with a tough, driving layup with 5:08 remaining. 
 
That would be as close as the Tigers (7-7, 0-1 CAA) would get as JMU quickly answered with a 6-0 run to push the advantage back to double digits.
 
The Tigers fell behind by four points in the first six minutes of the game, but quickly tied the score on back-to-back baskets from Eddie Keith II and John Davis.  Towson took its first lead a couple minutes later as Four McGlynn corralled a long rebound and buried the deep three pointer. 
 
Timajh Parker-Rivera gave the Tigers an 18-17 lead with 4:38 left in the first half with a putback off an offensive rebound.  The Dukes would regain the lead at 26-21, but Davis hit a free throw and Alex Gavrilovic followed up the second miss and put it back to make it a two-point game.  JMU executed an inbounds play in the final seconds of the half to take a 28-24 lead into intermission.
 
Davis led the offense with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting.  Hawkins added 14 points, with 12 coming in the second half.  Davis and Parker-Rivera each had a team-high six rebounds.
 
The Tigers have a quick turnaround as they play host to Elon Monday evening at 7 p.m.  Elon is coming off a 77-67 victory over Drexel in their first game as a member of the CAA.
 
 
The 2015 CAA Men's Basketball Championship will be held March 6-9 at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Md. Call 1-855-TU-TIGER for your tickets.