Pittsburgh – In what Coach Ferry would dub a “tale of two halves,” LaSalle (9-6, 2-0) pulled away from Duquesne (8-6, 1-1) in the second half, to hand the Dukes their first conference loss of the season. The 56 points for Duquesne, which came on 24 percent shooting in the second half, marks a season low.
Although disappointed in his team’s flat second half, Ferry had nothing but praise for his opponent. “They didn’t get rattled. It was a great environment and we got a lead on them, and they just played,” he said.
The crowd of 3700, a sea of red, mostly got what they wanted in the first half, although not from the man they thought would be doing the scoring. Ovie Soko was held to just four points, one game after garnering a number one play on Sportscenter, with his high-flying jam against Fordham Wednesday night. Soko would finish with 12 points, the first time in several games he has been held to under 20. More importantly, the versatile senior forward was forced into many tough situations, which led to his committing seven turnovers.
“They were clogging up the lanes, and they did a great job of keeping me off the line,” he added. “You’ve got to give them all the credit today, they did a great job of defending.”
Duquesne had only trailed for a total of 2:15 in the past four games, and never trailed for too long in the first half. Colter shot well to start things off, scoring Duquesne’s first eight points on a layup and two 3-pointers. Both teams looked to push the ball in transition, and shot very well, making for a back-and-forth half. By halftime, both teams would mirror each other in field goal percentage (46 percent).
LaSalle stayed in the game with key 3-pointers and strong rebounding by Steve Zack, the 6-11 junior center who came into the game leading the A-10 in double-doubles with seven. Duquesne jumped out to a 26-21 lead when Colter hit a long, contested jump shot after a media timeout, but no one heard much from the star point guard after that.
At 2:45 in the half, LaSalle’s Tyreek Duren found a wide open Steve Zack in the paint on a fast break to tie the game at 26 apiece. Soko followed this up by taking an ill-advised shot on the next possession, leading to another fast break and foul call on Duquesne. The home team went into the locker room trailing by five at halftime, 35-30 after a forced 3-pointer on the last possession by Colter.
“I think we came out sluggish, we forced a couple shots, we weren’t getting the shots we usually get,” said Dominique McKoy after the game. Credit LaSalle coach Dr. John Giannini for taking the wind out of Duquesne’s offense. Before the game, he told his team to guard Ovie Soko with all five players. “If you defend everything, you defend nothing,” Giannini said. Although Soko can shoot the three, LaSalle focused on taking away his inside game. “He can make threes and we’ll live and die by that, but we tried to take away his driving lanes,” Giannini said.
Duquesne would not lead at all in the second half. With 15 minutes to play, LaSalle had stretched their lead by four points, to 42-33. After Tyreek Duren’s 3-pointer with just under twelve to play, Ferry was forced to take a timeout, his team trailing 50-38. Duren, who leads the A-10 in assist to turnover ratio, finished with 23 points and 6 assists, but more importantly shot 5 of 7 from the field in the second half with 14 points. Duren joined elite company Sunday afternoon by being only the second LaSalle Explorers player to record 1400 points, 400 assists and 200 steals.
Duquesne didn’t get many calls to go their way in the second half, but that hardly matters when you shoot 24 percent from the field and the other team is hitting from the outside. With just under seven minutes, LaSalle’s Sam Mills took most of the life out of the crowd when he hit a 3-pointer to put Duquesne even further behind, 45-62. When Ferry took a technical foul less than a minute later, fans could sense the frustration mounting in the Palumbo Center.
“The whole second half, it was almost as if LaSalle figured something out on how to defend us,” Ferry said.
Duquesne’s typical aggressiveness in transition wasn’t rewarded with trips to the free throw line.
But even if Dr. Giannini had unlocked some secret to victory, he didn’t admit it. “I’m not nuts about playing them a second time they’re a really good team,” he said of the Dukes. “They’re going to win games this year, they’ve already got one good win under their belt.”
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
