Duquesne men lose 11th game in row

Duquesne has hit bottom.

The last-place Dukes completed a stretch of three games in five days by sputtering to their 11th consecutive loss Wednesday night, in part because of a horrendous offensive showing against George Washington at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Joe Bamisile scored 21 points to lead the visiting Colonials (10-14, 6-6 Atlantic 10) to an easy 73-52 victory before an announced crowd of 1,985.

Duquesne (6-18, 1-11), which made just 21 of 76 shots and missed all but one of its 21 3-point attempts, hasn’t won since beating Massachusetts on Jan. 8 for its only A-10 victory, a span of 39 days.

The Dukes haven’t won at home since a two-point victory over New Hampshire on Dec. 11.

The Dukes’ 27.6 shooting percentage is the lowest in coach Keith Dambrot’s five seasons on The Bluff. The 11-game losing streak ties the longest since the Dukes lost 11 in a row in 2012.

“It’s hard to stomach,” Dambrot said. “I’ve never felt more helpless in my life.”

Brendan Adams added 12 points, Ricky Lindo Jr. registered 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds and Brayon Freeman chipped in 10 points for George Washington, which shot 49.2 %.

Tre Williams paced Duquesne with 18 points. The 6-foot-7 sophomore shot a respectable 8 for 17.

“After our shooting night tonight,” he said, “we just have to get back in the gym and get after it. We can’t relax now just because games aren’t going our way. We just can’t quit on each other. We’ve got to keep working hard every day.”

It is the ninth time this season and the third in the past four outings Duquesne has failed to reach 60 points. Their 52 points against GW dropped them to last among A-10 teams in scoring offense (64.6 ppg.).

“I wasn’t as disturbed with the shooting as I was with the defensive end,” Dambrot said. “I don’t know what to do for them. I take one guy out because he doesn’t guard. I put another guy out there, and he doesn’t guard. And the next guy doesn’t guard. One guy takes a bad shot, and the next guy takes a bad shot. It’s a mental toughness issue as far as I can see. Another 52-point performance. What are you going to do?”

Primo Spears added 15 for Duquesne, which visits St. Bonaventure on Saturday. The Dukes’ Kevin Easley Jr., who missed all 12 of his shots, grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.

It was as nightmarish a performance in the first half as the second for Duquesne, which struggled all night to find the mark — or in this case, “the broad side of a barn.”

Duquesne shot 22.5 % in the first half, converting just 9 of 40 attempts — many coming on second and third shots off misses — and failed to make any of its 11 3-point tries.

“I don’t know how you can be 9 for 40 and still be relatively in the game in the first half,” Dambrot said. “The 21 for 76 (overall) really wasn’t the worst of it. We just didn’t guard anybody.

“We can’t make excuses. That was just a poor performance. We can sit here and say, ‘They’ve played three games in five days.’ Or, ‘Every time they play on the road and get back late, they’re no good,’ which is true. But that’s what this game is. You have to play three games in five days.”

Just three Dukes scored in the first 20 minutes, one being little-used 6-foot-11 freshman Mounir Hima, who wound up playing a career-high 17 minutes and recording four points, six rebounds and three blocks.

“He does some good stuff, and he does some young stuff,” Dambrot said. “He’s only played four years. It’s not for a lack of effort. He’s an unbelievable person. He’s worked hard to get better. He’s just not all the way there yet. Put another 10-15 pounds on him, get him some more experience, he’s got a decent touch. He’s big now. Another year-and-a-half, you don’t know. He’s the least of our worries.”

Duquesne was never in the game. After Williams scored the game’s first basket for Duquesne’s only lead, George Washington went to work.

The Colonials, who have won four of their past six games, steadily built their lead to double digits with 12 minutes, 16 seconds left in the first half on Hunter Dean’s three-point play for an 18-8 advantage.

GW led by as many as 16 points in the first half and by as many as 27 (69-42) in the second half.

“I feel bad for our fans.” Dambrot said. “I apologize to them that we’re playing as poorly as we are. I’m trying like hell. I just haven’t been able to get it out of them yet.”