Offense sputters in 2nd half in loss to Cornell
Castro-Caneddy, Tarin Smith, Tydus Verhoeven and Eric Williams Jr. — all played 30 minutes or more, with little room for error.
What’s worse, starting junior guard Smith was helped off the court in the final minutes with what appeared to be a right knee injury. Smith finished with eight points and four assists.
“This isn’t exactly how I thought things would go, but quite frankly we’re just not very good,” Dambrot said. “We’re trying. We played pretty good in stretches and then the minute they got hit in the mouth, they kind of just went [bleh]. And then energy-wise in the second half, we just don’t have enough guys. Simple as that.”
A jump shot by freshman Verhoeven, who got his first start along with sophomore Taylor, made it 39-36 and a 3pointer by Williams later gave the Dukes a 44-38 lead with 16:59 to play in the second half. The score was tied, 50-50, with 11:42 to play before Matt Morgan dunked to stretch Cornell’s lead to 58-53 and a 3-pointer by Josh Warren put Duquesne down by 10. Morgan led Cornell with 24 points.
Duquesne couldn’t score and find a rhythm of its own in the second half, keeping with one of its woes that led to last year’s 10-22 season. That inability to score carries over into the team’s ability to defend and play with energy to close out games, Dambrot said.
“We may score one time on the block, and then the next time we can’t score at all on the block,” Dambrot said. “That presents issues. We may make three open jump shots and then we might miss the next seven. We just don’t have any consistency. Our defense is fairly consistent when we’re fresh. We play better. I don’t think it’s bad. It’s not where we need it to be, but it’s better than our other aspects.”
“I keep reminding myself that all I can do is prepare them the best I can on a daily basis and I have to remind myself that I’m building this thing from the ground up,” Dambrot said.