Dukes waste chance at a double-bye
Will be 5th of 6th seed in A-10 postseason
Coming off a three-game winning streak during which Duquesne seemed to have all the answers, it was the Dukes opponent who had them Friday night.
Entering the game with a chance to earn a double-bye in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament next week, Duquesne led for just eight minutes against Richmond, none in the second half, and dropped a 73-62 decision to the Spiders at PPG Paints Arena
For much of the late stages, the Dukes (21-9, 11-7 A-10) were close to making a run to tie or take the lead, but, each time they got close, the Spiders (23-7, 13-4) would fire back with a run of their own.
The net result marked an anti-climactic end to Duquesne’s regular season. It also means the Dukes will enter the A-10 tournament as the fifth or sixth seed.
“I just felt like we should have won,” Dukes coach Keith Dambrot said after the game. “People say, ‘Oh, well, it’s the end of the year. It’s tired.’ Come on, man, we had a lot to play for. But that’s bit us all year. We can’t get out of our own way. Every time we get close we do the same thing. So, at some point, when you beat your head against the wall 14 times, you figure out not to beat your head against the damn wall.
“We’re a pretty good team. We’re pretty good. We’ve come a long way. But a championship-quality team wins that game tonight.”
Of all the places for the Dukes to struggle offensively, their free-throw deficiencies came out of nowhere.
Duquesne, which had shot 71.7% from the free-throw line over the entire season, earned 25 free throws Friday night and made just 10.
“I guess it’s just mental toughness, right?” Dambrot said. “Or you’re just [expletive]. Excuse my language. Some guys just can’t shoot them. But those guys have made free throws most of the year.”
That struggle wasn’t the sole reason for Duquesne’s loss.
The Dukes committed 13 turnovers, which isn’t an unforgivable amount by any means, but the timing of them was what hurt them. It seemed every time they began to make a run, Spiders point guard Jacob Gilyard would pick somebody’s pocket and take it the other way for a bucket. He finished with six steals and 10 assists. Another guard, Blake Francis, led the way for Richmond’s offense with 21 points.
When Duquesne did get a good look in key moments, it couldn’t get any shots to drop. The Dukes made 35% of their shots from the field and 33.3% from 3-point range.
The Dukes came out roaring, as sophomore guard Lamar Norman Jr., and fifth-year senior center Baylee Steele combined for three 3-pointers. Junior forward Marcus Weathers tacked on a lay-in to give the Dukes an 11-4 lead just under four minutes into the game.
Richmond didn’t stay down for long, though, as it got some easy looks on back-cuts and offensive rebounds to get rolling, and, once Duquesne’s outside shooting slowed, it struggled to stay ahead.
In fact, the Spiders carried a 37-29 advantage into halftime.
In the second half, junior guard Tavian Dunn-Martin, who wound up as the Dukes high scorer with 17, and junior forward Michael Hughes caught some fire, but, when they started to pop off, the Spiders were ready with a response.
“It came down to 3-point shooting, free throws and getting stops,” Hughes said.
“I feel like we didn’t get those toward the last 10 minutes of the first half and then the last 10-12 minutes of the second half.”