Duquesne dealt men’s basketball a 93-67 blowout loss Saturday after the Dukes’ defense kept the GW offense to an icy 29.6 percent first-half shooting rate causing a scoring chasm the Colonials couldn’t climb out of.
The Colonials (5-5 A-10, 11-12) trailed from start to finish, as Duquesne (5-5 A-10, 15-8) capitalized off red-hot 3-point shooting and aggressive defensive pressure that forced a string of GW turnovers. The Dukes shot 53.1 percent from behind the 3-point line, while the Colonials sunk about 36 percent of their 3-point tries.
“I didn’t think we were playing with the type of force that you need to play with against that level of pressure,” Head Coach Chris Caputo said in a post-game interview.
GW failed to get good looks at the basket for the first 10 minutes of play but still managed to score with some lucky bounces – senior guard James Bishop banked in a turnaround deep three with about 13 minutes left.
With 11:27 left in the first half, GW lagged just 2 points behind the Dukes after a 3 from redshirt freshman Maximus Edwards. But then the shots stopped falling.
GW missed their next 13 field goal attempts, failing to score a point for more than 10 minutes. Duquesne used the scoring drought to go on a 28-0 run against the Colonials, grabbing a 47-17 lead.
Senior forward Ricky Lindo Jr. finally broke GW’s abysmal scoring spell with a 3-pointer off an assist from graduate student guard Amir Harris at the 1:18 mark, and GW ended the half down 30 points, 50-20.
Edwards led the Colonials in scoring with 15 points on 6-15 shooting. The matchup marked his seventh straight game reaching double figures. Edwards is on the way to becoming the program’s first rookie to average at least 10 points and six rebounds per game since GW’s all-time leading scorer Chris Monroe in the 1999-2000 season.
Edwards scored 12 of GW’s first 17 points, keeping the Colonials in the game for the first 10 minutes, highlighted by a catch-and-shoot 3 that he splashed off of an assist from Bishop.
Duquesne outperformed GW across the board in the first half, shooting 19-for-31 from the field compared to GW’s 8-for-27 shooting. The Dukes hit a scorching 9 of 15 from beyond the arc compared to the Colonials’ 4 of 12.
The Colonials, plagued by turnovers, allowed 13 in the first half compared to Duquesne’s five. The Dukes also racked up 13 first-half assists compared to GW’s three.
Despite faring better in the second half, the Colonials’ last-minute burst of energy was too little, too late. Duquesne started off the second half with a 9-2 run before GW responded with a 16-7 run of their own. Forward Hunter Dean scored the first 7 points in the half for GW, capped off by an emphatic dunk off an Edwards assist that brought the score to 62-27 with 14:52 left to go.
GW got scoring contributions from all eight of their players in their main rotation, but Duquesne continued their onslaught of 3s to hold on to their commanding lead. Duquesne guard Jimmy Clark recorded his third steal and a dunk to put the Dukes up 71-38 before GW guard Brendan Adams hit a jump shot to put the score at 71-40 with 10 minutes left.
Colonials center Noel Brown slammed home a resounding dunk with 8:49 left in the game, and Bishop hit a 3 nearly 40 seconds later to bring the score to 50-77. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the game, and the Colonials never came close to completing a comeback.
GW outscored Duquesne 47-43 points in the second half, shooting .533 percent from the field and notching 10 second-half assists.
GW hopes to bounce back in their next game against Richmond Wednesday. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. at the Smith Center.