James Madison Rallies To Beat Montana State, 68-63

Chatney Howard scored a career-high 26 points, and James Madison erased a 12-point deficit Saturday to defeat Montana State 68-63.

James Madison (3-2) trailed 36-24 late in the first half and 36-28 at the break. But the Dukes opened the second half with an 18-9 run and took the lead for the first time, 46-45, on Ned Felton’s layup with 11:17 remaining.

After trailing by as many as eight points, Montana State (3-5) regained the lead at 63-62 on a pair of free throws by Nate Holmstadt with 2:35 left.

But Howard, a junior forward, hit a layup a minute later to give the Dukes the lead for good. Howard made 10 of his 17 field-goal attempts as the Dukes shot 54 percent from the floor to Montana State’s 47 percent.

Lamont Boozer had five of James Madison’s 17 steals as the Dukes forced 26 Montana State turnovers.

Charles Lott came off the bench to score 13 points for James Madison.

Damon Ollie led Montana State with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Mel Claxton scored 16 and Holmstadt 12.