Duquesne Basketball
Duquesne Drops Close Game to St. Bonaventure
PITTSBURGH — The Duquesne men’s basketball team was able to come back from multiple double-digit deficits Wednesday night against St. Bonaventure, but was unable to get over the hump dropping a 51-49 contest.
Redshirt sophomore guard Frankie Hughes led Duquesne with 11 points, while freshman guard Sincere Carry added 10. Sophomore guard Eric Williams Jr had nine points and 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Kyle Lofton paced St. Bonaventure with 16 points.
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Duquesne came into this game with some injury concerns as Carry did not practice in Wednesday’s shootaround, Tavian Dunn-Martin was given a 30% chance of playing in this game by Dambrot and Marcus Weathers had a groin injury. All three were able to play but as stated in Tuesday morning’s media session, Lamar Norman Jr did not because of a concussion he suffered in practice.
Here is a photo gallery from Wednesday night’s contest.
It was a flat start on Duquesne’s end as St. Bonaventure opened the contest on a 13-3 run. The aforementioned injury concerns seemed to play a factor early as Kellon Taylor made a brief return, his first action since Jan. 4 against Fordham.
Earlier in conference play, Taylor stated he would focus on football while continuing to practice for the men’s basketball team. Dambrot referred to him as a secret weapon and seemed grateful that Taylor would make such a gesture.
Still, Duquesne trailed and at one point as Dunn-Martin battled for the basketball, his injured ankle seemed to give way and though he returned, it would not before riding the exercise bike prior to each substitution.
Duquesne was unable to take advantage of St. Bonaventure’s 12 personal fouls in the first half going 4-for-11 from the free throw line. For a good portion of the first half, St. Bonaventure had committed more fouls than Duquesne had points.
Had Duquesne been able to make free throws, its 23-22 halftime deficit could have been a lead.
Still, Duquesne was able to take a brief lead when Weathers made a transition dunk, but this advantage lasted all of 16 seconds.
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A 14-2 St. Bonaventure run put it back up 10 points, but Duquesne slowly, battled back.
After a lengthy delay to clean wet spots, the crowd got involved with a “let’s go Bona, let’s go Dukes”, responsive chant.
Carry was able to drain a corner three-point shot which cut St. Bonaventure’s advantage to one point.
The teams battled to the end as St. Bonaventure’s Osun Osunniyi missed his one-and-one free throw and on the next trip down the court, Dominick Welch split free throws.
Duquesne hesitated on its first couple of baskets and Frankie Hughes’s three-point shot missed on the right side of the rim.
In the loss, Duquesne had 17 turnovers and shot 34.5% from the field.
Duquesne will next travel Saturday to face Fordham. The game tips off at 2 p.m.
POSTGAME PRESSER
Keith Dambrot spoke to reporters after the loss and the players were not made available for comment. Here are Dambrot’s remarks.
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