From the onset, it was clear that this game would be a slugfest, one that the Billikens were fine with engaging in. The Dukes stuck with them in the first half, and even had a 33-28 advantage with 4:53 left in the first half. However, the Billikens snapped back in the form of two straight three-pointers from Trey Green. SLU used that momentum to nudge ahead 40-38 after one half of play.
In the second half, SLU showed why they are the 24th-ranked team in the country by way of a 19-5 run in the first 6:19. During this run, Amari McCottry, who had a doughnut in the first half, scored 8 of those points. It was punctuated by a Dion Brown layup in transition, forcing an immediate Dukes timeout.
Duquesne countered that with a 12-1 run out of that timeout that drew the Dukes within 6. The run featured an electric alley-oop jam by Dave Dixon, followed by a Billikens turnover which led to a Jakub Necas layup.
The crowd was into it, and even though SLU kept pushing the lead out, Duquesne kept punching back, almost being willed by their fans at times. The last gasp when the Dukes had the lead cut to 78-72 with under a minute to go. They then got two turnovers from SLU, which they parlayed into a Jimmie Williams three-pointer and a Dave Dixon dunk. After two made free throws from Brady Dunlap, the Dukes went with the hot-handed Williams for the final shot with 13 seconds, but the shot fell short, and that was that.
I think I probably should have drove that there,” Williams lamented. “But, I was in the moment, and you can’t really think while you’re playing. So when I shot it, I was kind of like, ‘probably wasn’t the best shot’.”
Listen, he, he, he’s the guy if it goes in right? He took a shot that he was comfortable with and confident in, so I’ll give him credit for that.
The lesson in it was just understanding, maybe the moment of the game,” Dru Joyce III said. “I thought he had a matchup, right? And 26 seconds left in the game, try to keep the game going for as long as possible.”
Despite that, Williams had a career-high in points tonight with 28, shooting an even 50% and draining 4-of-7 from three-point land.
I think I just saw, you know, a few go in”, Williams said. “And I think I had a good amount of opportunities where the ball came to me and I was somewhat open or I just felt like, you know, the shot was gonna go in, so I just took it.”
All but one of the first four conference losses for the Dukes were by less than ten points, which shows that Duquesne has had opportunities to pull away wins. Joyce also notices this, and he still feels like his team can pull through sooner rather than later.
You gotta take your wins and your losses, and there’s gotta be lessons in all of them,” Joyce said. Um, we’ve got to find a way to change the course. Right? Outside of maybe VCU, I thought they got away from us, but we’ve been in every single game.”
Up Next
Next up for Duquesne is a road test in Chicago against the Ramblers. Tip-off is set for 2 PM. On the other hand, SLU will stay on the road on Friday to take on the St. Bonaventure Bonnies at 4:30 PM.
