It came down to a blocked shot.
Julius Wells rejected Mike Howlett’s layup attempt at the buzzer to lift James Madison to a 60-58 victory over Penn, sending the Quakers to their third straight defeat.
The thrilling finish capped a back-and-forth affair in which neither team led by more than seven points in a game that featured 11 ties and eight lead changes.
Penn coach Jerome Allen drew up the final play with star guard Zack Rosen as the first option to shoot. But Rosen, who led Penn with 15 points and 10 assists, was swarmed by the Dukes.
“The biggest thing is Zack has the ability to make tough shots and I ride and die with him,” Allen said. “If his decision was to pass it, then I think it was the right basketball play.”
Said Rosen, “They strung it out. We were looking at the throwback, but I saw Tyler [Bernardini's] man sink in. We ended up getting a pretty good attempt.”
Rosen hit a tying three-pointer with 1 minute, 38 seconds left and JMU coach Matt Brady, the former St. Joseph’s assistant, didn’t want him to tie it again on the last possession.
“We were going to try not to let Zack get the shot off,” Brady said.
Brady commended Wells for twice rotating on defense on the final play. But Allen was reluctant to praise the Dukes defense, focusing instead on his offense.
“We didn’t do enough to finish the play,” Allen said. “I’m not going to say it was good defense.”
Henry Brooks, a 6-foot-8 freshman forward, had the best game of his young career with 10 points for Penn (3-4).
JMU’s A.J. Davis led all scorers with 19 points, including 14 in a row early in the second half, and Andrey Semenov contributed 15 for the Dukes (3-2).
Penn, which trailed by as many as seven in the second half, evened it at 58 on Rosen’s three-pointer from the right wing. After a JMU miss and a Rosen turnover, Humpty Hitchens put the Dukes up 60-58 with a driving bank shot with 11.7 seconds remaining.
“Tough shot, good play,” said Rosen, who was guarding Hitchens.
Said Brady, “We were going to let him have an opportunity to drive. He made a great play.”
The Quakers called a timeout with 8.5 seconds left and worked the ball inside to Howlett, but his attempt from close range was blocked by Wells as the horn sounded.
“I was just trying to make sure that ball didn’t get near the hoop,” Wells said.
The game was the final one for the Quakers in the four-game Philly Hoop Group Classic. Penn finished 2-2, losing to JMU and No. 17 Pitt, 78-58, on Friday night, and beating Rider and Robert Morris.
It was a disappointing showing for the Quakers.
“We would’ve liked to have had a better representation,” Allen said.
Said Rosen, “Losing (stinks), it’s not something me or the group will ever get used to.”
Penn scored the first six points of the second half to take its largest lead, 35-29. But then Davis got hot, netting all 14 JMU points as the Dukes outscored the Quakers 14-4 over a four-minute stretch to take their largest lead, 43-39, with 13:04 left. And JMU’s advantage was seven, 46-39, when Wells nailed a three with 11:38 remaining.
But the Quakers rebounded to score 11 of the next 14 points over 4:03 to reclaim the lead, 50-49, with 7:35 to play. Brooks had six points during the Penn spurt. Penn came up empty on its next five possessions, allowing the Dukes to go up 56-50 with 4:54 left.
The teams finished tied at 29 in a back-and-forth first half in which neither team led by more than five points. Bernardini led Penn with eight points, while Semenov had 10. The opening 20 minutes featured six ties and five lead changes.
Rosen had the highlight of the first half, setting up Cameron Gunter with an easy layup with a no-look pass from half-court.
It was the first-ever meeting between the two schools, both of which were playing their fourth game in seven days. Brady’s staff includes former Hawks standout Bill Phillips. Phillips, who was on the bench Saturday, is the Dukes’ operations director.
Rosen sported an ice pack on his right knee following the Quakers’ loss to Pitt on Friday night. He was banged around by the physical and athletic Panthers, but managed to score 22 points, 18 on three-pointers.
He came up limping again in the first half against JMU, holding his left knee after being fouled hard by A.J. Davis.
JMU finished 2-2 in the Classic, beating Rider and Penn while losing to Robert Morris and La Salle. Picked to finish fifth in CAA, JMU makes its third appearance in Philadelphia on Feb. 22 at Drexel.
