Coming into Saturday’s game, VCU (15-3, 5-0 A10) was clearly the favorite, having thus far this year outscored its opponents by over 14 points per game and remains undefeated in conference play.
After a slow start in the first half by both teams which had only scored a combined 32 points at the midway point, the Rams, who were missing their leading scorer, senior Treveon Graham (17 points per game), started to pull away and led the Dukes (6-10, 1-4 A10) by 14, 40-26 going into halftime.
While both teams were shooting well from the paint, the Rams’ 44 percent to the Duke’s 40 percent, the Dukes only hit 12 percent of its 3-pointers compared to the Rams’ 44 percent in first half play.
Coming out of the locker room after the first media time out at the 12:20 mark, the Dukes, led by a tip-in by Dominique McKoy, started to erode the Rams’ then 13-point lead making it a 65-45 contest. With 9:45 remaining after a jumper by Darius Lewis, the Dukes closed to within four of tying the game, 56-52.
In the last two minutes of the contest the Dukes missed several key scoring opportunities. With 2:26 remaining the Dukes closed to within two, 64-62 of tying the game after a dunk by Lewis. After stopping the Ram’s from scoring on their next possession, the Dukes lost possession after the Ram’s Mo Alie-Cox stole the ball from Micah Mason. With 57 seconds left Melvin Johnson hit a key 3-pointer putting the Rams up 67-62, and ending any hope of a Duquesne comeback win.
“I thought our guys played really, really hard today. I thought they played with great purpose…against an extremely talented and well-deserved nationally ranked team,”said Duquesne’s head coach Jim Ferry.
Leading the Rams’ scoring efforts with 16 points, three rebounds and five assists was JeQuan Lewis. Also having a double-digit night was Melvin Johnson with 14 and Doug Brooks who scored 10 points.
Duquesne also had three players in double-digits, led by Derrick Colter with 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. McKoy was next with 12 and L.G. Gill ended up with 11 points.
Saturday’s loss is the Duke’s third in-a-row where it had opportunities to bring in a win late in the game. The Dukes one possession loss to Rhode Island 61-60 last week came after a 50-50 call on a loose ball foul setting up the game winning free throw. The Duke’s 78-69 loss to Saint Louis Wednesday came down to missed free throws.
“That’s what’s disappointing right now. We’re coming close” Ferry added. “We were good enough to beat Rhode Island and came up short on a 50-50 call. We were good enough to beat Saint Louis on the road, and we missed our free throws. We were good enough to win this game, and we didn’t.”
VCU coach Shaka Smart in giving credit to Duquesne’s second half effort said, “Duquesne really played with great aggressiveness in the second half and did a terrific job attacking us.”
Overall, VCU ended the game shooting 39 percent, 40 percent of its 3-pointers and 60 percent of its free throws. Duquesne hit 43 percent, 29 percent of its 3-pointers and 64 of its free throws.
Duquesne will host St. Bonaventure (9-6, 2-2 A10) Thursday with a scheduled 7 p.m. tipoff.
