W&M Men’s Basketball Loses at JMU, 55-47

Tribe Rookie Edwin Ofori Attah Scores Game-High 21 Points

01/12/05 11:31PM

HARRISONBURG, VA - William and Mary freshman guard Edwin Ofori Attah (Davidson, NC) came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points, but it was not enough, as the Tribe men’s basketball team lost to James Madison, 55-47, Wednesday night at the JMU Convocation Center.

The loss drops W&M’s record to 4-9 overall and 0-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association, while the Dukes improve to 3-9 (1-3 CAA).

Both teams struggled to put the ball in the basket in the first half, which ended with the score tied at 18. JMU jumped out to an early 6-1 lead, before Ofori Attah tied the game with a three-pointer and jumper. The Dukes went ahead 13-6 with 9:04 left on a dunk by Chris Cathlin, but the Tribe defense held JMU scoreless for five and a half minutes, tying the game at 13 on a layup by sophomore forward Corey Cofield (Newton, MA) with 6:02 left in the half. A free throw by Cathlin and pair of jumpers by Cavell Johnson put the Dukes up 18-13, but the College again came back to tie the score with a layup by Cofield and another three by Ofori Attah in the final minute of the half.

The game went back and forth for the first 14 minutes of the second half, with neither team able to lead by more than three points in a stretch that included seven ties and six lead changes. With the Tribe ahead 38-36 with 7:10 remaining, JMU took control of the game, scoring 13 unanswered points in less than three and a half minutes for a 49-38 lead with 3:43 left to play. W&M cut the lead to seven points twice in the final minutes, but could get no closer, as the Dukes won the game, 55-47.

W&M was hampered by shooting just .294 from the field in the game, while JMU connected on 39.6 percent of its shots. Along with Ofori Attah’s 21 points, just one off his career high, Cofield also scored in double digits for the Tribe with 11. Ray Barbosa led the Dukes with 19 points, while Cathlin scored 15 and Johnson added 11.

The Tribe returns to action Saturday, January 15 at Drexel at 4:00 PM.


Box Score

Post-Game Quotes from William and Mary Head Coach Tony Shaver
“We can’t make baskets. We just cannot put the ball in the hole. I thought, for the most part, we defended really well. If you hold a team to 55 points, you usually have a pretty good chance to win, but every basket for us is just a difficult thing to come by right now.”

“It’s just the inconsistency right now. Edwin [Ofori Attah] stepped up and played a great ball game tonight and played with a lot of heart and soul, but our post guys didn’t really bring a whole lot tonight.”

“I thought the first 10 minutes we got good shots and just missed a lot of them. Then we started forcing some things. I think the tension and frustration builds a little bit in young guys and then we started rushing a little bit. I though we came out in the second half with great shot selection, we just couldn’t get the ball to go in the hole.”