RICHMOND, Va. – The Hampton University men's basketball team struggled from the floor on Saturday afternoon at the Richmond Coliseum, falling 55-49 to James Madison in the Governor's Holiday Hoops Classic.

The Pirates (5-7) have lost back-to-back games.

Sophomore guard Brian Darden (Richmond, Va.) led the Pirates with 14 points, despite hitting just four of his 13 3-pointers, while sophomore guard Ke'Ron Brown (Savannah, Ga.) added 12 points and another 10 points came from senior forward Du'Vaughn Maxwell (Manhattan, N.Y.).

Brown also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Brown gave the Pirates an early 8-3 lead with a layup at the 16:15 mark, and a jumper from Maxwell with 15:48 left in the first half put Hampton up 10-5. But the Dukes scored the next seven points to take a 12-10 lead at the 12:15 mark.

Maxwell hit a pair of free throws with 5:24 left in the half to put Hampton up 20-19, and a dunk from Brown at the 1:35 mark gave the Pirates a 24-22 lead. But JMU scored the next four points to take a 26-24 lead into the locker room.

Brown hit a 3-pointer with 15:31 left in the second half to cut JMU's lead to 34-33, but the Pirates couldn't complete the comeback, as the Dukes went on a 7-2 run to take a 41-35 lead with 12:20 left to play.

Hampton answered with four straight points, cutting the lead to 41-39 on a jumper from sophomore guard Deron Powers (Williamsburg, Va.) with 8:27 remaining. But JMU pulled away again, using a 9-3 spurt to take its largest lead of the game, a 50-42 edge with 3:58 left.

The Pirates went on a 7-2 run, cutting the Dukes' lead to 52-49 with 1:04 left after a fast-break layup from Maxwell. But Ron Curry hit a jumper on the next possession, and Charles Cooke added a free throw with 14 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

The Pirates shot 31.6 percent (18-for-57) from the floor and made six of their 25 3-pointers (24.0 percent). Hampton also struggled at the free throw line, going 7-for-15 (46.7 percent), though the Pirates turned 18 JMU turnovers into 14 points.

JMU (4-9) shot 43.9 percent (18-for-41) from the floor and hit seven of its 17 3-pointers (41.2 percent). The Dukes also held a 35-33 edge on the glass.

Curry led JMU with 19 points.

The Pirates will return to the HU Convocation Center on Dec. 29 to take on Winthrop at 2 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.