Hot-shooting Hughes’ 3s lift Duquesne to victory
Dukes win 17th, surpassing total from last season
It had been a long time since Frankie Hughes played a game like he did Saturday.
Sure, he scored 23 and 24 points in his first two games as a Missouri Tiger, back in November 2016. But his playing time faded that year and he ultimately left the program and sat out a year after transferring to Duquesne.
The sophomore hit a career-high seven 3-pointers as the Dukes (17-9, 8-5 Atlantic 10) beat Atlantic 10 foe George Washington, 85-69, Saturday at Palumbo Center.
But before he got hot, Hughes missed his first two shots of the afternoon. In fact, he hadn’t made more than one 3-pointer in any of his last three games.
“Man, I can’t pray for one to go in for me right now,” he told teammate Sincere Carry. “And then the next one I shot, it went in, so I guess God heard me. And after that it was just falling for me,” Hughes said.
He hit five 3-pointers, formerly his career best, in a four-minute stretch of the first half. At one point, he hit a 3pointer on four consecutive possessions to spark a 12-4 run after the Dukes had fallen behind the Colonials (7-18, 3-9).
“Probably high school,” he said, thinking back to the last time he got that hot.
Duquesne closed on a 17-5 run for their biggest win of 2019.
Hughes’ seven 3-pointers are the most by a Duquesne player since Eric Williams Jr.’s program-record nine against George Mason in January 2018.
Williams had a big day, too, scoring 12 points in the first 10 minutes of play en route to a game-high 22.
George Washington got off to a hot start, shooting 56 percent in the first half. Duquesne managed to stay ahead, though, because of turnovers. The Dukes committed a season-low six while the Colonials had 17.
With the win, Duquesne surpasses last year’s win total both overall and in conference play. The Dukes’ 17 wins are their most in the regular
season since 2010-11. Last year, Duquesne finished 1616, 7-11 in the Atlantic 10.
Coach Keith Dambrot credited Carry for the improvement.
“What that freshman’s doing is pretty incredible,” Dambrot said. “He’s running the complete show, he’s influencing the game at both ends, he’s getting other people involved, on a relatively poor knee.”
The Dukes are off for a week, returning to play Saturday against George Mason. It will be the teams’ first meeting since Williams Jr.’s record day of 34 points and nine 3-pointers.