Pittsburgh—The game was much closer than what the scoreboard read after the final buzzer. On defense, Duquesne took measures to slow down the 3-point shooting of the Billikens’ guards, Kwamain Mitchell and Mike McCall. For the most part, they succeeded. However, free throws and turnovers ultimately were responsible for the Dukes’ seventh straight defeat.
“That was a tough loss, our guys are really down right now,” Coach Ferry admitted. Duquesne guarded well on defense until the final minutes but also committed 17 turnovers. Ferry seemed to be most concerned with his team’s 47.4% from the free throw line though.
“You can’t miss ten free throws at home and expect to beat a team as good as Saint Louis,” said Ferry at the end of the game.
Some old school coaches say free throw shooting wins basketball games. What a shame that this adage came back to haunt the Dukes Wednesday night, when you look at what they were able to do against the team that was picked to finish second in the Atlantic 10 this season. On defense, they were able to hold the Billikens’ leading scorer, McCall, to just 5 points in 20 minutes. Neither McCall nor Mitchell was able to convert a 3-point field goal. Credit Duquesne’s defense there. “Coach said to play tight and get up on them, make them drive to the hole,” Derrick Colter said of his team’s defensive game plan. The freshman point guard had another good night—his 13 points made this his eleventh straight double-digit scoring game.
Saint Louis shot a meager 3 of 21 from beyond the arc, a sharp contrast from their last game where they hit fourteen 3-pointers in an 80-82 loss to Rhode Island. “We did a great job against those guys, especially in stretches,” Ferry elaborated. The bad news is the Dukes made more field goals than their opponents yet still managed to lose the game. “I thought the fouls hurt us, and tonight we fouled the wrong people,” said Jerry Jones, who finished as the leading scorer with a career high 18 points. Duquesne sent Cody Ellis to the line one too many times. Ellis went 11 of 12 from the charity strike while scoring 16 points on the night.
Coach Ferry implemented some distinct lineup changes in this game. Instead of trying to squeeze every possible minute and possession out of Colter, he let Binney run the point a lot more than normal, especially later in the 1st half. Ferry also benched senior forward Andre Marhold, allegedly for not taking on the responsibilities of an ideal senior in the program.
Although the lineup was shifted around, Duquesne was in a position to win the game with about seven minutes to play. But the three point lead they held would soon vanish, and they only managed to score six points in the six minutes that followed. With 1:13 remaining, Saint Louis was up 56-69, and Duquesne was left to the dire situation of fouling and hoping for missed free throws.
The game featured 17 lead changes and 11 ties. Saint Louis outrebounded the Dukes by a margin of 40-36 while also recording a staggering 12 steals.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
