Dukes fall just short vs. Bonnies
Duquesne’s 49 is season-low points
When you hold a team to 20 of 70 from the field and 2 for 17 from 3-point range, you probably should win the game, coach Keith Dambrot said.
That proclamation came after Duquesne (15-8, 6-4 Atlantic 10) couldn’t manage to do so, falling to St. Bonaventure (9-13, 5-4), 5149, Wednesday night at Palumbo Center.
“I know [St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt] is counting, he’s going to church shooting 28 percent and winning a game,” Dambrot said.
It marked a season-low point total for the Dukes, who shot 34.5 percent (19 of 55) and couldn’t quite make it six double-digit comebacks this season despite a decent defensive effort (St. Bonaventure averages 67.9 points per game). The Dukes’ previous season-low was 53 points in the City Game loss to Pitt Nov. 30.
Duquesne was playing short-handed, as freshman guard Lamar Norman Jr. was out with a concussion, freshman center Austin Rotroff is out for the season with a torn ACL and sophomore guard Tavian DunnMartin’s minutes were limited after he sprained his ankle in the Dayton loss.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball well, we didn’t share the ball well … we just didn’t have much juice, really,” Dambrot said, calling out Duquesne’s eight assists despite averaging 14.4. “No energy.”
The Dukes, who entered the game shooting 71 percent from the line, made 6 of 16 free throws in the loss and ended the game on a 2:10 scoring drought.
St. Bonaventure freshman center Osun Osunniyi had a Palumbo Center-high 22 rebounds, to go with 6 blocks, with the Bonnies winning the rebounding battle, 54-42 (21 offensive boards for the Bonnies, 8 for the Dukes). That’s been a problem for Duquesne of late as the Dukes came in with a -1.2 rebounding deficit.
In the second half, with the score tied at 27-27, sophomore forward Marcus Weathers dunked to give
the Dukes the lead at 16:40. But Duquesne couldn’t shoot consistently enough to build on it. They eventually lost the lead and never regained it.
St. Bonaventure later went on a 14-2 run to take a 41-31 lead, but two free throws by Eric Williams Jr. and a fast-break layup by Frankie Hughes, who led the Dukes with 11 points, narrowed Duquesne’s deficit to six points. A 3-pointer by Sincere Carry pulled the Dukes within five points and soon thereafter another pulled them within 48-47.
Trailing, 50-49, with less than a minute to play, a shot by Weathers rolled in and out of the basket.
“Marcus had a good shot, drove it to the rim,” Dambrot
said. “We butchered one play, that we’ve run 50 times this year, which is hard to believe. Our whole problem was energy, really. We had very poor energy. We tried, we just didn’t play very well together. Tried to do too much by ourselves.”
The Bonnies’ record entering the game was deceiving because two of their best and most-experienced players had missed some games due to injury (senior forward LeDarien Griffin and senior forward Courtney Stockard).
Duquesne came out flat in the first half and tied its season-low first-half point total of 22. It looked as if the Dukes were going to set a new record until a 9-2 run closed the first half with Duquesne trailing, 23-22.
Duquesne’s remaining February schedule is unkind with only one more home game (Feb. 16 vs. George Washington). Next, the Dukes will visit Fordham at 2 p.m. Saturday.