Pittsburgh—Atlantic 10 preseason favorite Saint Joseph’s didn’t leave the Palumbo Center without a fight Saturday night. That was because the right Duquesne team showed up to play—the Duquesne from before Christmas break. The Dukes didn’t always play soundly throughout the night, but they were aggressive.
“If we play like this, and play this hard, we’ll win some games in this league,” Coach Ferry said after the game.
Unfortunately, Duquesne’s efforts weren’t fruitful. They did, however, rebound better than they have in weeks. Duquesne outrebounded their opponents by an astounding 47-33 margin. According to Coach Ferry, rebounding has been the message he has been trying to send to his team lately. It is something that (until today) the team hasn’t been doing nearly as well since before Christmas.
Andre Marhold and Sean Johnson tied for the team lead in points today with 13. Marhold recorded his first career double-double, adding 11 rebounds to his team’s stellar performance on the glass. Derrick Colter had 11 points, and Jerry Jones had 9. Mamadou Datt saw action this season for the 2nd time after sitting out the first semester for academic reasons. He contributed 2 points and 8 rebounds in 15 minutes of action.
In spite of the strong rebounding, the Dukes just couldn’t get ahead of Saint Joe’s. Although they were able to tie up the game with 9:35 remaining, they just couldn’t seem to get a stop when they needed it most. That also speaks to the talent of Saint Joseph’s players.
“This team was picked number one in the league for a reason, they have really good players,” Coach Ferry said of his opponent.
Without the individual efforts of Langston Galloway and Carl Jones, the Hawks surely would not have walked out of the Palumbo Center with a win. Duquesne managed to hang around in the first half, even though it looked like Saint Joe’s might blow the game wide open at times. The seven point halftime lead for Saint Joe’s probably left some fans unsure of whether or not it would turn out to be a game. But what a game the 2nd half turned out to be. Duquesne came out with a renewed energy, feeding off of Johnson and Marhold. But give the opposing team credit—they made the shots when it counted.
When the Dukes managed to tie the game midway through the half, Ronald Roberts got an inside look, drew a foul, and was able to convert an easy 3-point play. But it wasn’t only the starters for the Hawks that contributed. Duquesne cut the lead to within one at 7:25, but Ndao Papa, who only sees about 7 minutes per game, hit a huge 3-pointer. Such was the cycle in the latter stage of the game. When Duquesne cut the lead to two with 2:45 remaining, Langston Galloway hit two straight jumpers to make it a two possession game with about a minute to play.
“Our margin of error is so small, and when you’re playing a team like Saint Joe’s with their experience and talent, the margin of error is glaringly small,” Ferry stated. “We got the looks we needed to get, I don’t think we took advantage of those.”
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
