Duquesne falls apart in 2nd half in loss to Dayton

Let’s examine the state of the Duquesne basketball team through seven games after a 72-63 loss at Dayton on Wednesday night.

• The Dukes (3-4, 2-3 Atlantic 10) can’t shoot well enough or find others enough open shots. The result is an unacceptable 34.8 shooting percentage over the past three games. “We’ve got scoring issues. We just don’t have enough pop,” coach Keith Dambrot said.

• Free-throwing shooting has fallen to 63.4% for the season, a rate that is among the 40 worst in the nation. The Dukes missed 9 of 17 Wednesday. “There’s nothing more deflating than missing free throws and we’ve missed them pretty much all year,” the coach said.

• They have been outscored by a total of 27 points in the past three second halves, a result of conditioning issues rising from the previous spread of covid-19 through the team. “It looked like we got tired again,” Dambrot said.

• Four freshmen are playing more minutes than anticipated after three veteran players left the team last week.

“It’s clear right now that we’re not championship quality,” Dambrot said. “It’s fairly obvious. We took some hits. That’s not to say we can’t (start winning).”

The conditioning issue is one that might take some time to fix.

“I’ve never felt more helpless,” Dambrot said. “There’s not a lot I can do about it, other than keep pushing them and still love them and just try to get them better.”

This week is especially difficult.

The Dukes expected to arrive back in Pittsburgh from Dayton at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday. Then, they had just enough time to sleep, eat lunch, have a quick walk-through and get back on the bus at about 5 p.m. for a 3½-hour ride to Olean, N.Y., for Friday’s game against St. Bonaventure.

Duquesne played well in the first half but couldn’t sustain the effort over 40 minutes. Marcus Weathers scored the team’s first 10 points, hitting two 3-pointers, while helping Duquesne take a 16-7 lead seven minutes into the game.

Dayton (7-3, 3-2 Atlantic 10) battled back, but Duquesne still led, 34-33, at halftime.

The second half belonged to the Flyers, who took that one-point disadvantage and turned it into a 59-41 lead with 9 minutes, 31 seconds left in the game.

Shooting and finding good shots was the main problem for the Dukes. Other than Weathers’ two and Ryan Murphy’s one at the first-half buzzer, Duquesne missed each of its remaining 14 shots from beyond the arc.

Weathers led the team with 19 points, but it was Duquesne’s third consecutive game with only one double-digit scorer.

“The biggest need is somebody to break down the defense and create opportunities for other guys to shoot open shots,” Dambrot said. “Last year, we did it through (point guard) Sincere (Carry) driving it and we did it through Weathers and (Michael) Hughes kicking out, and right now, we’re not doing a very good job of either.”

Playing without Carry, who has left the team, is proving difficult. Senior guard Tavian Dunn-Martin, a long-range scoring threat, runs the offense now, and he did a good job with only two turnovers in 35 minutes. But he attempted only four 3-pointers (all misses).

“(Opponents) are just going to try to wear him down,” Dambrot said. “Between guarding and playing 35 minutes and handling the ball the whole time, it’s a tough deal for him. Sincere had the ball the whole time for 2½ years.”

The good news is freshmen Toby Okani, Chad Baker, Andre Harris and Tyson Acuff are gaining valuable experience. Okani started and played 32 minutes, with a full stat line of five points, eight assists, eight rebounds, one block and no turnovers. Harris scored eight points, with four rebounds.

With 11 games left before the Atlantic 10 Tournament, there is time for the Dukes to salvage the season. “As long as we sustain our character and our attitude,” their coach said.

“It’s going to be harder on me than on them,” said Dambrot, who’s coached 23 years with only two losing seasons (none since 1992-1993).

“That’s a pride hit for me, but that’s just the way it goes. I’m built for it. I’m not insecure. I know if you do the right things, you can win. I have to be patient and teach them how to play.

“But we were competitive. If we had made some free throws and made a 3(-pointer) or two, we’d have been right there to win the game.

“But those are big ifs.”