The James Madison Dukes and the Appalachian State Mountaineers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Holmes Center. James Madison is coming off a Thursday game versus Old Dominion. In that one the Dukes powered out a five-point victory. As for Appalachian State, they played Marshall in their Thursday game. The Mountaineers went on to lose by eight points. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
James Madison Dukes
The Dukes were sitting at 11-5 at the 16-game mark this year with losses to North Carolina, Valparaiso, Virginia, Coppin State and Texas State. The Dukes hit a 4-3 stretch after that with wins over Georgia Southern, Troy, Coastal Carolina and LA-Monroe.
In the Old Dominion matchup on Thursday, the Dukes managed a 35-27 advantage at the break. James Madison trailed 46-43 from there but hung on for the 78-73 win. Takal Molson was the leading team scorer on 18 points and nine assists.
Appalachian State Mountaineers
Over on the Appalachian State side, they managed a .500 run over their first 16 games with an 8-8 record. The Mountaineers went 5-2 over the next seven outings, beating James Madison, Troy, Old Dominion, Georgia State and Arkansas State.
Matched up against Marshall on Thursday, Appalachian State went into halftime down 31-24. The Mountaineers didn’t get any closer on a 35-34 deficit from there and lost 66-58. Justin Abson posted 16 points with eight rebounds in the defeat.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stick with James Madison. The Dukes are on a nice three-game win streak right now, and they’ve won five of the last six. James Madison is scoring well during that time with 70 or more points in all but one of those half-dozen games. The last time these teams met up, Appalachian State pulled off a 71-62 victory at Atlantic Union Bank Center. The Mountaineers are playing pretty well lately (despite the loss to Marshall) but if JMU is on point I think they can power out a cover/win in this one.