VALPARAISO, IND. – Duquesne could find no answer to the inside-outside combination of Kevin Van Wijk and Ryan Broekhoff in falling to host Valparaiso, 84-68, at the 2K Sports Classic.
Van Wijk, a 6-8 junior from the Netherlands, scored 22 points and pulled down 9 rebounds and Broekhoff, an Australia native, had 21 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists as Valpo upped its record to 5-1.
Duquesne, which fell to 3-2, was led by Kadeem Pantophlet, a native of Tiel, Netherlands, and Sean Johnson who scored 14 and 13 points respectively.
“I didn’t think our energy was good all day,” said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. “You got to take your hat off to Valpo, we caught them on a day when they shot the ball very, very well. We didn’t guard them obviously well enough. We just didn’t guard the interior very well. Van Wijk was just tremendous inside. We couldn’t do anything right it seemed like. And every time when we did have a stop and made them miss we couldn’t get the rebound.”
The Dukes, who defeated the University of the District of Columbia on Friday and Akron on Saturday, got out of the blocks slowly, falling behind 10-0 before Pantophlet, who entered the game 0-of-6 from the 3-point arc, buried the first of his four 3-pointers at the14:55 mark.
Valpo built the lead to 12 on a pair of Jay Harris free throws before Mike Talley, Johnson and Pantophlet hit consecutive 3-pointers to key a 13-0 run that gave the Dukes their only lead of the game at 23-22.
Valpo outscored DU 21-10 over the final eight minutes to take a 43-33 lead at the half.
Broekhoff, who hit four of his five 3-pointers in scoring 14 first half points had a double-double by halftime with 10 rebounds. Van Wijk, who went 10-of-15 from the foul line for the game, scored six of his 10 first half points from the stripe.
Duquesne scored the first two baskets of the second half before Broekhoff hit a 3-pointer and Van Wijk scored the next six points to make it 52-37 with over 16 minutes left. DU would get no closer than 13 the rest of the way.
Broekhoff, who led the Horizon League with a 44.8 3-point percentage last season, entered the game 5-of-23 from the arc. He matched that total in nine 3-point attempts.
Valpo shot 58.3 percent – including 9-of-20 from the 3-point arc. Duquesne, which hit 9-of-23 3-point attempts, shot 49.1 percent. VU outscored DU 19-7 from the foul line.
The Dukes were outrebounded 34-17 as Valpo enjoyed a 34-18 advantage in the paint. The Crusaders also outscored DU 10-0 in second chance points.
“I’m concerned about our youth and inexperience on the inside,” said Everhart. “If you look at the stat sheet and see you are going to shoot 49 percent and 39 from the 3-point line, I would have said we would have had a great chance to win this game. I didn’t think we would be that bad defensively or that they’d be that good offensively. They were.”
B.J. Monteiro (11 points) and Eric Evans (10 points) also scored in double digits for Duquesne. T.J. McConnell had 9 points and a team-high 5 assists.
Pantophlet was 5-of-5 from the field, including 4-of-4 from the 3-point arc in providing a spark of the bench.
“Kadeem was great today. He’s the type of kid who can really help us within the type of system we have,” said Everhart.
Duquesne returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 26 when it hosts Louisiana-Lafayette at the Palumbo Center.
NOTES
• Sean Johnson averaged 18.7 ppg. in the three-game Valparaiso Subregional in earning all-subregional honors … the junior guard shot 50% from the field (17-of-34).
• Duquesne which entered the Valpo game averaging 18 free throws made and 25 attempted per game, went 7-of-14 from the foul line … Valparaiso center Kevin Van Wijk was 10-of-15 by himself (Valpo went 19-of-25 for the game).
• As a team, the Dukes shot 52.9 from the field (91-of-172), including 18-of-56 from the 3-point arc in the three games in Indiana.
• 7-foot-1 Radford transfer Martins Abele made his debut with 1:29 left in the first half … the Latvian had three fouls and one block in five minutes.
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