By Paul Casey Gotham
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Turning hurt into positive. That is how the Duquesne Dukes spent their Saturday afternoon.
Less than 72 hours after a late-game collapse, the Dukes used those lessons for their first conference win of the season.
Sean Johnson and T.J. McConnell sparked a 13-0 second-half run as the Dukes defeated the St. Bonaventure Bonnies, 66-52 in Atlantic 10 Conference action at the Palumbo Center, Saturday.
One game after a personal disappointing performance, Johnson scored eight straight in the decisive run as the Dukes put away the Brown and White.
“Coaches don’t like to talk about what goes in the locker room, ” said Duquesne head coach Rod Everhart. ” But we had a lot of kids who were hurting in the locker room after that game. Sean was certainly one of those guys. I was excited to see how our elder statesmen stepped up in B.J.’s absence.”
Johnson grabbed the rebound of his own miss after Andrew Nicholson blocked a shot in transition and finished off the glass. One trip later, McConnell found Johnson in transition for a basket. With the ensuing free-throw, DU led by 10 at 47-37.
After a SBU timeout, Johnson connected with another traditional three-point play when Mike Talley led him into the open court in transition. The junior guard drew contact and completed the play at the charity stripe.
Andrea Marhold put an exclamation point on the run with an emphatic dunk from Talley.
By the time Bona’s Eric Mosley stopped the bleeding with a pair of free throws it was too late. The Dukes led by 13 and never looked back.
Johnson had a game high 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field including 1-for-4 from behind the three point arc.
“Sean is a scorer, ” Everhart said. “He is a dribble-drive kind of guy. When teams do things like put their 5 man back there to take him away, I get him out of the dribble-drive. Some times he gets out of sorts. He still has that New York attack mode kind of thing going on. He just hasn’t gotten to the point yet where he is comfortable stepping into that jump shot.”
Johnson was 4-for-16 from the field when the Dukes lost Wednesday night at St. Josephs – a game in which Duquesne led by 16 points in the second half.
Down six at the half Andrew Nicholson and Matthew Wright paced the Brown and White. The pair combined on back-to-back buckets. Wright passed over the defense on Bona’s first possession of the half, and Nicholson sent home a dunk. Another possession, another lob and SBU trailed by two.
When Mamadou Datt fell on a ball screen, McConnell alertly took advantage and hit a pull-up trifecta.
Nicholson answered with a baseline jumper.
Bonaventure tied the score at 32 when Kloof skipped through the lane and kicked to Wright in the left corner for a three-ball.
The teams traded baskets before Kadeem Pantophlet started the decisive run with a three from the top of the key.
The Bonnies scored six straight to pull within one midway through the first half. Out of a timeout, Chris Johnson took a Wright pass, drove baseline and finished a reverse layup. Wright followed going away from a ball screen hitting a runner in the lane. SBU made it 13-12 when Da’Quan Cook found Johnson slashing through the lane for the basket.
Duquesne responded. McConnell drove the lane, hung in the air and shoveled a pass under the defense to Marhold for a 16-12 Dukes advantage.
Wright found Demitrius Conger for a three. Charlon Kloof got into the lane and dished to Jake Houseknecht for the bucket, free throw and a tie score, 18-18.
McConnell sparked the Dukes in the final four minutes of the stanza. The sophomore point guard connected on four-of-four free throws, finished a layup after hesitating in the air and led Eric Evans in transition for two as Duquesne took a 29-23 edge into halftime.
Duquesne’s sophomore point guard ended the contest with 13 points and a game-high 8 assists.
“When T.J. gets out in transition, we’re a dangerous team, ” Everhart noted.
“Their pressure was cumulative,” said SBU head coach Mark Schmidt of the relentless Duquesne attack.
True to form the Dukes frenetic pace created problems. The Bonnies committed 12 turnovers in the first half. For the game, the Dukes created 20 points of 18 Bonaventure turnovers. On the season, DU opponents average more than 18 miscues per game.
Despite playing just 4 minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, Nicholson paced the Bonnies with 11 points.
In a story that is becoming all too common the pre-season co-conference Player of the Year pick, went to the bench early because of infractions.
“The way Andrew plays, he tries to play everybody, ” Everhart comments. “As ridiculous as it sounds, he is good enough to do that. He is kinda like (former Duquesne star, Saunders ) Damian was for us. He can play 2 or 3 people in one defensive possession because he is so long and athletic.”
Nicholson now has 1,710 career points and sits ninth on the school’s all-time list. Nicholson is just one of ten to eclipse the 1,700 point plateau in school history. Nicholson also advanced to ninth on the rebound list with 711.
Duquesne played the game without senior starter, B.J. Monteiro who was injured in an off-the-court incident. On December 31st, Monteiro became the 35th member of Duquesne’s 1,000 point club.
Representatives from four N.B.A. teams watched the game from the Palumbo Center baseline.
Duquesne leveled their conference play record at 1-1 and 10-6 overall. DU travels Cincinnati to face Xavier on Wednesday. The Bonnies also have a record of 1-1 in conference play and 8-6 overall. SBU plays host to the Dayton Flyers on Wednesday. SBU has not defeated UD since February of 2002. A 7 p.m. tip-off is scheduled at the Reilly Center.
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