University Park, PA—Coach Ferry was expecting all coaches and players back on campus by Wednesday so the team could get at least two days of solid practice in before the Penn State game Saturday night. But you can’t control Mother Nature. Due to the massive amounts of snow the East Coast received in the days after Christmas, some players and staff weren’t able to get back to campus until late Thursday. It was really tough to say though, whether Duquesne’s 84-74 loss to Penn State had a lot to do with the team’s lack of practice.
The Dukes weren’t all that slow getting out of the gate and only committed 10 turnovers the whole game. That’s a season low. They didn’t shoot particularly well, but then again, neither did the Nittany Lions. Kadeem Pantophlet hit a 3-pointer on the first possession of the game, but the Nittany Lions would soon claw their way to an early lead. They gained the lead for good on a D.J. Newbill 3-pointer with 9:08 left to play in the 1st half.
Newbill was the high scorer on the day, with 23 points and 12 rebounds. His teammates Nick Colella and Sasa Borovnjak had 15 and 14 points respectively. For the Dukes, Sean Johnson had 19 points, his highest scoring game since December 8th against New Orleans. Johnson, Winters, and Colter handled over half of the team’s scoring.
Duquesne went into the locker room facing a significant 39-28 deficit. They went on to shoot 35.5 percent in the 2nd half (compared to 39 percent in the 1st half) but outscored Penn State from 3-point range 15-6. They trailed by double digits for most of the final half, but were able to work the lead down to five points with under a minute to go. From there they needed some help from their opponents in the form of missed free throws—but it didn’t happen. Penn State went 5 for 8 from the line in the final minute of play.
The Nittany Lions (8-4) dominated the paint all day, outscoring the Dukes 28-16 inside. Duquesne (7-7) is now done with the non-conference portion of their schedule and will enter Atlantic 10 play January 9th at Fordham.
Photo Credit: Duquesne Athletics
