Pittsburgh—Sometimes when you think there is nowhere to go but up, the unthinkable happens. Coming off a nine game losing streak, I’m sure some people around the Duquesne basketball program were thinking such hopelessly positive thoughts before the George Washington game. The end result of the game, however, was another confidence hit for Duquesne’s players and a much-needed apology from Coach Ferry.
“I apologize to the fans for having to watch this game, I’m embarrassed. This is the worst game we’ve played all year,” Ferry uttered after the loss.
Duquesne (7-15, 0-8) was able to keep things mildly interesting for most of the first half, even after going down by as much as 14 points. But the home team practically handed the game to their opponents in the second half of play.
Not that the first half was particularly pretty. George Washington (11-10, 5-3) was able to take advantage of quite a few Duquesne turnovers, which resulted in nine points. Luckily, the Dukes’ opponents were just as bad. Over the course of the game, George Washington amassed 19 turnovers, surpassing Duquesne’s total by one.
This made the game slightly more interesting. Given the Colonials shot about 51 percent from the field and Duquesne struggled to grab a rebound or catch a pass, GW should have blown the game wide open.
“Thank goodness we have two freshmen that have heart and played really, really hard. If we can get some of the upperclassmen to compete like that, this stuff wouldn’t happen,” said Ferry
The freshmen accounted for a whopping 41 of the team’s 57 points today. That begs the question: Where are the upperclassmen? Sean Johnson finished the game with just 7 points, no assists or rebounds, and four personal fouls. He was last seen trotting to the bench with 17:23 left in the game after being called for a flagrant, then a technical foul. And this is the man that is supposed to be leading the team. Andre Marhold, the other senior, saw just six minutes of action today.
“Coach said we gotta win the paint to win the game, but you see on the court they outrebounded us,” said Derrick Colter after the game.
Not only did Duquesne get outrebounded 47-27, they got annihilated in the paint. GW scored 44 points in the paint to Duquesne’s 14. And by no means was it pretty to watch. The game looked like a comedy of errors at times—dropped balls and errant passes abounded throughout the night.
After getting up to a 6-0 lead on two Johnson 3-pointers, Duquesne allowed their opponents a 14-0 run. Jeremiah Jones kept things interesting with a nice 4-point play, Winters and Colter were able to hit some shots, and Duquesne was able to stay in the game for halftime. But the door would soon be blown open. The 45-35 George Washington lead grew bigger and bigger, as the Dukes were able to muster just four points in the first six minutes of the 2nd half.
Credit George Washington for forcing Duquesne into long range shots throughout the game. Duquesne’s first six field goals were 3-pointers—they would go on to shoot a flat 9 of 24.
“Every team in the Atlantic 10 is bigger than us, we just have to play tough,” Jeremiah Jones said after the game. Jones finished with 14 points on the night. “We gotta continue to play tough, and we have to minimize our mistakes.”
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
