Saturday, December 19, 2009
Transfer Bowles Gets 37 and 15 for James Madison
Denzel Bowles finally get his chance to play and the James Madison Dukes are a better team for it. By NCAA rule, Bowles sat out spring semester of last season and the first six games of this year after transferring from Texas A&M, but finally got into action on December 12 at Eastern Michigan, though his 14 points couldn't help the Dukes from dropping a 75-64 decision and falling to 4-4 on the year.
Thursday night at Gardner-Webb, it was a different story, as Bowles exploded for 37 points and 15 rebounds, leading the Dukes to a 78-57 pasting of the Runnin' Bulldogs. A 6'10" junior, Bowles dominated in the paint, hitting an amazing 68% of his shots (17-25) in 32 minutes, much of it over, under and around the rim.
James Madison already has one loss in the Colonial Athletic Conference, losing 49-44 to Georgia St., but that was just before Bowles became eligible. When conference play begins in earnest on January 2 at Northeastern, Bowles and his Dukes should begin making some noise and offer a challenge to the traditional leaders - VCU and George Mason.
Labels: Denzel Bowles, James Madison Dukes