Ovie Soko finally got the momentum going in Duquesne’s favor midway through the first half, likely providing himself with another Sportscenter Top 10 play, as the 6-8 forward caught a long alleyoop pass from Desmond Ridenour and stuffed it home over the outstretched arms of a defender, drawing the foul to boot. But the Spiders (16-8, 6-3) kept Duquesne’s (10-13, 2-8) newfound momentum at bay with strong shooting, especially from point guard Kendall Anthony.
“He’s a quick little guy, he’s so aggressive and it’s hard to stay in front of him,” said Mason.
The 5-8 junior knocked down four triples in the first half, giving Duquesne’s players and coaching staff a headache. Meanwhile, Duquesne’s three point shooting was stagnant (8 for 21) throughout the game.
Almost every aspect of Duquesne’s offense was slow out of the gate – the home team committed 6 turnovers in the first half, twice as many as their opponents. Two of these miscues came on their first two possessions.
“They had a lot of threes in the first half,” Soko said. “In the second half we got some chances and were able to capitalize on those, but we just came up short.”
When it was there, the offensive power for Duquesne came from inside. Soko and McKoy both played well, especially on the glass. Soko recorded 21 points and 9 rebounds, while McKoy had 9 points and 6 rebounds. The Richmond defense seemed to give Soko a little more room to breathe than George Mason, but didn’t let Mason get more than an arm’s reach away all night. Mason, who entered the week as the nation’s most accurate 3-point shooter, went 3 for 7 in triples.
Mason didn’t hit his first three until around 7:25 to play. He wound up hitting two more after that, but the newfound daylight came too little too late. His counterpart in the backcourt, Derrick Colter, went scoreless.
Mason, Soko and McKoy for the Dukes went a combined 17 of 30 from the field, while the rest of the team shot 5 of 27.
“I think we got completely outplayed in this ball game on both sides of the basketball. Our backcourt needs to play better, our wings need to play better, we can’t just rely totally on Dominique and Micah,” said coach Ferry.
Richmond played a spirited game, even though they were missing two of their top seniors. Cedrick Lindsay, who led the team and ranked third in the conference in scoring, is out for the season with a torn meniscus in both knees. Senior Derrick Williams did not play for personal reasons. The Spiders were coming off a comeback, 64-62 win over St. Bonaventure where Kendall Anthony hit the game winning jump shot with five seconds left. Anthony certainly carried his momentum into the Palumbo Center Wednesday night, posting 20 total points on 5 of 14 shooting.
Duquesne had a chance to take advantage of some Richmond foul trouble early in the second half, as forward Deion Taylor and center Alonzo Nelson-Ododa entered the final period with two each. Their first half fouls ended up making little difference down the stretch.
The Dukes were able to work the 27-39 second half deficit down to nine points in the first few minutes, but that is as close as they would get. With around eleven minutes remaining, Richmond started pulling away. The Spiders built a 38-58 lead by 9:58, their largest of the night.
Duquesne shifted to a full court press with under seven minutes to go, but it proved to be a desperation measure at best. Ferry’s move successfully forced the Spiders to the line and extended the game, but the visitors hit their free throws down the stretch. Richmond went 23 of 26 from the line on the night. Duquesne, by contrast shot a spotty 8 of 16 (50 percent).
The Dukes shift gears and hit the road this weekend. Their next scheduled contest is at Rhode Island on Saturday.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
