Duquesne faced St. Bonaventure, their number one most-played opponent of all time, Wednesday night, losing by a score of 71-67. The game came just over three weeks after Duquesne (11-14, 3-9) beat the Bonnies at the Palumbo Center on a last-second Derrick Colter 3-point heave.
Duquesne rallied from an early deficit, but wasn’t able to overtake the streaking Bonnies (16-10, 6-6), who have now won three straight. Both teams had their moments in the game, but Duquesne couldn’t rebound from an early hole they dug themselves into.
For Duquesne, Micah Mason led all Duquesne scorers with 14 points and 4 of 8 from 3-point range. Soko and Colter had 12.
For St. Bonaventure, Mathew Wright scored 22, while Jordan Gathers had 18 and Dion Wright had 16. St. Bonaventure shot a fantastic 50.9 percent on the night.
The first half was mostly hard-fought, featuring three ties and eight lead changes until the final four minutes. The Bonnies went on a nifty 12-2 run at the end of the half to take a commanding 36-25 lead. Mathew Wright would open the lead up to 14 on an early 3-pointer, but then it was the Dukes’ turn to catch fire.
As a matter of fact, Duquesne hit their first seven shots of the half, tying the game up on a Mason 3-pointer before too long. The Bonnies would build the lead back to eight thanks to Dion Wright, but DU came storming back again, taking the lead 62-60 with over six minutes to play. At 2:23 Mathew Wright hit a 3-point play to tie the game up, and Duquesne never led after that point. Colter had a chance to tie the game late, but missed two free throws with 17 seconds left on the clock and his team down by two.
This time, he didn’t have a chance to hit a buzzer beater and redeem himself, and his team went down by four on the following possession to round out the final score.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
