By Paul Gotham
PITTSBURGH, PA — For Jim Ferry and his Duquesne Dukes it had to to feel a little like deja vu. They reached the under eight timeout of the first half against the University of Dayton Flyers and found themselves in a one-possession game.
This time they set out to finish what they started.
Derrick Colter led five in double figures as Duquesne defeated Dayton, 83-73 in Atlantic 10 conference action at the CONSOL Energy Center, Saturday afternoon.
Colter scored 25, including his 1,000th career point, as the Dukes won for the third straight time at home and avenged an earlier drubbing at the hands of the Flyers.
“It was a good win,” the senior guard said. “I didn’t really care about the 1,000 points. I just wanted to win with my teammates.”
Colter and Micah Mason both played the full 40 minutes and combined for 42 points and 12 assists.
“Certainly when those guys played the way they played today, they’ll be on the floor as long as they can play,” Ferry noted. “We need them to control the game. Which they did.”
Colter sparked a decisive 11-4 run early in the second half.
Trailing by one, Dominique McKoy found L.G. Gill inside for a dunk. Colter followed with his 1,00th point on a three-ball. Kendall Pollard finished underneath for Dayton before Colter and McKoy combined on a pick-and-roll with latter scoring an uncontested layup.
“We moved the ball side to side and kept a continuous ball screen action going,” Ferry said of his team’s offensive attack. “We were able to break them down in different ways whether it was getting open for threes or getting rolls to the basket or high-low looks.”
Colter took a handoff from McKoy and hit a pull-up jumper. Jeremiah Jones drove baseline and found McKoy for a lay in and a 54-48 Duquesne lead.
They never trailed again.
“That was the best basketball game we played this season,” Ferry commented. “Just a truly unselfish basketball game on both ends of the floor. Guys were really working for each other.”
After shooting just 21 of 61 from the floor in an 81-55 loss to Dayton earlier this season, the Dukes hit 31 of 59 on Saturday.
“We’re just a better team right now,” Jones stated. “I think we’re finally starting to gel. We finally figured out who we are and how we need to play to beat teams of that caliber…Offensively, I think we’re starting to play more together. I think we looked like a totally different team than when we played them the first time.”
Duquesne outscored the Flyers 49-26 in the paint and 16-9 on fast break points for the game.
“Coach emphasized that about giving the ball to our bigs a lot, so they can score easy buckets because they were short in the post,” Colter said.
“Give Duquesne just a tremendous amount of credit,” Dayton’s Archie Miller said. “They’re really improving. They were the better team today. I thought they were faster in all aspects. I really can’t remember a game this year where our defense just didn’t have that many answers.”
Dayton came into game holding opponents to 60 points per game and 40.9 percent shooting from the floor.
“You work and you build your system defensively on how to really make tweaks during a game,” Miller said. “It didn’t really matter what concept we had. We didn’t have the toughness on the ball. We didn’t have the impact of the quickness off the ball.”
And Duquesne’s 2-3 zone defense frustrated the Flyers into 25 of 63 afternoon including 11 of 33 behind the arc.
“Thirty-three threes is way too much for our team which says a lot about how we didn’t get the job done,” Miller commented. “Not just the half court, I didn’t think we had any opportunities in transition. When we did, we didn’t capitalize. A lot of that stems from sort of slow mind, slow feet. Then other team had us on our heels.
“I didn’t think our perimeter guys in general drove to close outs,” Miller continued. “We’re accustomed to hitting the paint off close outs and drives. We didn’t get much. We were stagnant. We settled to shoot some open threes that didn’t go…We really rely on our defense to create some offense for us. We didn’t have that today. That’s probably one of the legs that wasn’t available for us to use.”
Dayton wasted little time jumping to a double-digit advantage early in the first half. Scoochie Smith opened the scoring with three-pointer from the right wing. Dyshawn Pierre used an upfake in the lane to get to the rim for two and an early 5-0 edge.
Pierre followed with a trey in transition. The junior forward led Darrell Davis for a catch-and-shoot three. Kendall Pollard converted a pair of free throws, Jordan Sibert nailed a trifecta from the top of the key, andDayton led 17-7.
Colter sparked the Duquesne response.
After Jones finished a layup. Colter found Jordan Robinson on the break with a lob in the lane for two. Colter drilled a three from the top and took a Mason into the open court for a lay in and Duquesne’s first lead of the game at 21-20.
McKoy’s layup gave Duquesne a 28-27 lead going into the media timeout with 7:57 to go in first half. The teams were knotted at 17 with 7:12 to go in the first half of the meeting on January 3.
Colter connected on a three from the left corner, and McKoy converted a three-pointer the hard way to give the Dukes their biggest lead of the half at 34-29.
“I do think Derrick Colter is playing career-best basketball,” Miller said. “He’s very under control. He’s playing like a very steady point guard.”
Pierre paced a 10-2 UD run. The Whitby, Ontario native hit a jump hook in the lane. He blocked a shot at the other end and fed Sibert for a layup attempt. Sibert converted one of two free throws. Sibert followed with a three from the top. Pierre and Sibert followed with back-to-back layups on the break, and Dayton led 39-36.
“Dyshawn was probably the only bright spot in today’s game,” Miller said. “We just didn’t have enough going.”
Pierre hit another three. Tysean Powell completed a traditional three-point play for the 42-41 halftime score.
Pierre registered a double-double with a career-high 27 points and 12 rebounds.
Smith had 12 while Sibert added 12 for Dayton.
Mason was held to zero points on 0-8 shooting during the previous meeting. Saturday, he netted 17 and equaled a career-high nine assists without committing a single turnover.
“I just tried to stay aggressive,” Mason said. “I thought the first game at Dayton, I couldn’t find my shot. Still, I wasn’t knocking ‘em down today, but my coach has faith in me and wants me to stay aggressive. That’s what I did.”
McKoy chipped in 11 for Duquesne while Gill and Jones added 10 apiece.
Duquesne (9-16/4-10) hosts Saint Louis, Wednesday night. A 7 pm tipoff is scheduled.
Dayton (20-6/10-4) hosts George Mason for a 7 pm tip also on Wednesday.
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