By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
Once again, William & Mary got off a fast start against James Madison. But it was fleeting, and the Dukes quickly flipped the script.
 
Sparked by a 10½-minute stretch in the first half, the Dukes turned a six-point deficit into a 20-point lead and ran away for a 69-55 win Saturday in Atlantic Union Bank Center. The Tribe trailed by as many as 24 points before cutting the margin to 11 with 7:12 remaining but got no closer.
 
As in last month's overtime loss to JMU in Williamsburg, not taking care of the ball was the issue for William & Mary. The Tribe committed nine of its 17 turnovers during the Dukes' 30-4 run.
 
"We just got careless," W&M coach Dane Fischer said. "We turned it over in every way. We didn't have patience, we had the ball taken off us in the press, we traveled against the press. Every way you could turn it over, we did.
 
"And they were loud turnovers because a ton of them led to run-outs and easy baskets for them. It's one thing if you turn the ball over a few times. It's another thing if they're leading to opportunities on the other end, which a lot of those did."
 
Ben Wight and Julian Lewis led William & Mary (5-21, 4-9 CAA) with 13 points each. Wight also had 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Lewis had five boards and was 3-of-7 from the 3-point arc.
 
Freshman Tyler Rice added 12 points, nine coming in the second half, and two assists. Senior Quinn Blair, playing for the first time since Dec. 22, finished with 10 points in 20 minutes.
 
W&M shot 38% from the floor, 5-of-22 from the 3-point arc. James Madison (14-10, 5-8) shot 49% and was 7-of-23 from deep.
 
The Tribe hit four of its first five shots out of the gate and led 10-4 at the 16-minute mark. But over the next 10:28, the Dukes made 12-of-19 shots and outscored the Tribe 30-4. Ahead 10-4 only four minutes in, William & Mary trailed 34-14 with 5:35 remaining in the first half.
 
W&M went 1-of-12 from the floor with nine turnovers in that stretch.
 
JMU took its biggest lead at 55-31 with 18:54 remaining in the game. Sparked by Rice, who scored seven points in a 9-0 run, the Tribe cut it to 62-51 with 7:12 remaining.
 
The Dukes scored seven consecutive points and pushed the lead to 69-51 with 4:03 left.
 
Although the hole was too deep to overcome, W&M outscored JMU 26-19 in the second half. The Dukes shot 36.4% in the final 20 minutes.
 
"We certainly defended better in the second half," Fischer said. "One of the biggest things was we were able to get our defense set way more often. So many of those points they got in the first half were off our mistakes and we didn't even get our defense set."
 
After turning the ball over 13 times in the first half, the Tribe had only four in the second.
 
Next up: W&M will head south for a Monday afternoon game at UNCW, which had a half-game lead over Towson in the standings going into Saturday night's home game against Charleston. The Seahawks defeated W&M 92-70 on Feb. 5 at Kaplan.