All year, Duquesne has been haunted with two particular themes: closing out games and hitting their free throws. In a fitting ending where Duquesne blew a 13 point second half lead and failed to hit their free throws at the end of the game, St. Bonaventure stunned the Dukes and ended their season 64-59. The Bonnies ended the game on a 13-1 run.
In the final 4:16, Duquesne went 1/4 from the line and only got shot twice. They turned the ball over 18 times in the game, with 13 of them coming in the second half and 3 in the final 4:04. It resulted in a crushing loss to end the season.
Melvin Council Jr. played terrific for the Bonnies on Thursday, logging 18 points while collecting 8 rebounds and four steals. He put the exclamation point on the aforementioned run by hitting a dagger step-back jumper over the outstretched arms of Cam Crawford to give his squad a 62-59 lead with 1:03 to go.
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The Dukes lead for over 36 minutes of this game, and they led from the 9:32 mark in the first half until there was under two minutes to go. The Bonnies, after falling behind 52-44 with 7:43 to go, went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to three. Duquesne clapped back with a Dinkins jumper and a Necas posterizing dunk, but those were the final two field goals they would score. Lajae Jones cut the lead to 2 with a three ball, then Council hit a jumper to tie the game at 58. After a Tre Dinkins III turnover, they got it back and after the timeout, Council got to the line to hit two free throws. The Bonnies never looked back. In the final 4:16, Duquesne went 1/4 from the line and only got shot twice. They turned the ball over 18 times in the game, with 13 of them coming in the second half and 3 in the final 4:04.
Duquesne was led in scoring by Maximus Edwards, who had 18 points. 12 of those came in the second half, but he did not get to put up a shot in the final five minutes of the game. Jakub Necas came within a point of a double-double, as he had 9 points to go along with 10 boards. Tre Dinkins didn’t shoot particularly well tonight in what could be his final game as a Duke, going 1/7 from three. He still got into double figures with 10 points. Matus Hronsky closed a resurgent season for him on a good note by contributing 11 points and two steals.
As for the Bonnies, it wasn’t just Council running the show. Lajae Jones burned the Dukes again like he did in February when he scored 20 points. This time he scored 18, all while playing a large role defensively with 3 steals.
The Bonnies will go on to face VCU tomorrow morning. The opening tip is scheduled for 11:30. They beat the Rams earlier this season on New Year’s Eve in the conference opener by a final score of 77-75. Council dropped in a go-ahead layup with 3 seconds to go in that one.
