CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Jacksonville University men's basketball team (6-3) went to battle with Miami (4-2) on Saturday afternoon and despite trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, had the ball and a chance to tie in the late stages before running out of time and settling for a tight loss, 64-73.
The Dolphins got two enormous efforts from two veterans, but both had their lights out performances cut short by foul trouble. First, Dontarius James was unconscious from long range. Knocking down five triples while shooting 7-10 overall to tally his 19 points in just shy of 21 minutes of court time. He picked up his third and fourth fouls early in the second half then earned his fifth with soft contact shortly after returning to the game midway through the half without attempting another shot.
Bryce Workman did not play in the first half (disciplinary reasons) but responded in a big way. The junior converted all five of his tries from the floor and 4-6 from the free throw line to account for his 14 points. He also pulled down two rebounds but fouled out of the game with just over a minute to go. Workman became the first Dolphin in over a year (Nov. 16, 2019 – David Bell, 8-8) to be perfect from the floor (min. five attempts).
Kevion Nolan made his long-awaited Dolphin debut, logging 30 minutes of action and scoring four points on a rusty 2-15 shooting. But more importantly, the junior pulled down four boards and handed out six assists, providing a smooth spark off the bench for the Dolphins. After sitting out the 2019-20 campaign due to NCAA transfer rules, Nolan missed the last eight weeks with an injury suffered on just the second official day of preseason practice. Saturday's contest was his first between lines since Mar. 9, 2019 when he suited up for Samford opposite UNC-Greensboro; a span of 651 days.
Mo Arnold added eight points, five rebounds, five assists and a steal. Tyreese Davis had eight points, including 2-5 from deep, to go with four boards and a steal. Trey Sides knocked down three triples for his nine points with two steals. Zameron Boozer added two points and Cameron Boozer made the first start of his career in Workman's place.
As a team, Jacksonville shot 43.1 percent from the floor while knocking down 10 triples, the second-highest single-game total so far this season. Turnovers were limited to just 11 while handing out 14 assists. The Dolphins held Miami to just 38.3 percent from the floor and forced the Canes into 16 giveaways. Jacksonville converted those giveaways into 23 points while also outscoring Miami in the paint (30-28) and off the bench (29-19).
The biggest disparity in this game came at the free throw line where Miami converted 21 of 25 attempts while Jacksonville, a team that converts an average of 14.3 free throws per game at a 65.1 percent clip entering Saturday's contest, was only granted 10 tries and made four of them.
Dontarius James did his part to keep things close in the early stages. He scored the first eight points of the game for his team and 10 in the first half overall but the Dolphins trailed, 37-26 at the break. No other JU played at more than four points after the first 20 minutes of action and James had only played 14 minutes due to picking up his first two fouls.
The ASUN's leading scorer, James canned his first three looks at the rim from deep in the second half before picking up his fourth foul with 16:26 still to play in the game. The Dolphins trailed by 10 at that point and Miami increased that spread to 14, 52-38, with 13:45 to go. Trey Sides responded on the next JU possession with a triple with help from Arnold.
Workman added a bucket inside off a screen and roll target from Nolan and the Dolphins were off and running. Davis canned a triple at the 10:03 mark to make this a five-point game, at which point James re-entered and made his presence felt with a blocked shot on the defensive end. Workman finished inside off another feed from Nolan to cut the deficit to just three with 9:02 to go.
The Miami lead ballooned back to eight when a Miami driver grazed the loose jersey of Dontarius James, earning him his fifth foul, converting through the alleged contact and knocking down the free throw. Arnold and Workman followed with back-to-back conversions at the rim to cut the deficit back to four. Workman converted a free throw later to pull JU within a possession, 61-58, with 6:12 left but that was ultimately as close as the Dolphin came in this one.
Miami was able to keep Jacksonville at an arms-length the rest of the way to hold on for a nine-point result, 73-64. Jacksonville will return to action on Monday night, Dec. 21, at Kansas State. That contest will close the books on the 2020 calendar as well as the non-conference slate for the Dolphins and will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
