By PAUL GOTHAM
Over the previous eight games, Duquesne’s Josh Steel played a combined 20 minutes. The freshman guard nearly surpassed that number in production during the first half of Sunday’s contest.
Steel came off the bench and in nine minutes netted 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting including three from behind the arc.
“Josh stepped up for us,” Duquesne head coach Jim Ferry said during the Atlantic 10’s weekly tele-conference. “Which was huge.”
In 21 previous appearances, Steel had scored 36 points. Sunday he helped the Dukes take a 10-point lead into the locker room at halftime. More importantly, the Harlow, England native provides another option for Ferry and a Duquesne team looking for a someone to step up in the absence of Jeremiah Jones who suffered a season-ending injury in late December.
“We have nothing but youth as our backups,” Ferry stated. “We really just needed the next guard because we got to try to find Micah Mason and Derrick Colter a couple minutes, a couple seconds even here and there in the game to take a little break.”
Steel played a season-high 37 minutes in a loss to Dayton on January 2nd and followed that with 12 minutes against Davidson and 20 versus George Washington. Since then the 6-4 guard has played 20 minutes in five games and sat out three contests.
“We were playing Josh earlier in the season,” Ferry noted. “He has been practicing really well for us. He just started coming and started to peak. It was an easy call to give him a shot then he stepped up and made plays for us. He’s going to have to continue to do it, continue to play well in practice and hopefully give us those minutes each game.”
Duquesne (15-10/5-7) is coming off a pair of single-digit defeats. The Dukes lost on the road to then No. 19 Dayton, 76-74 – a game in which Duquesne led by ten with five minutes remaining. The Dukes followed that with a 108-99 setback in overtime to UMass. The Dukes had a two-point lead with the ball in the final minute of regulation but could not close out the victory.
“We’re actually playing pretty good basketball,” Ferry said. “We just haven’t been able to finish at the level that we should be at this point.
“That’s what this conference has played out to be. It’s a grind. Everybody is kinda just beating each other up right now.”
Duquesne hosts George Washington (18-7/7-5) Wednesday night. The Colonials beat Duquesne, 91-64 earlier in the season. The Dukes won five of six after that meeting on January 9.
After winning at VCU, GW dropped games to Saint Joseph’s and St. Bonaventure last week.
“They’re an extremely talented team,” Ferry said. “They’re big. They’re physical. We didn’t fare very well when we were down there. Like us they’re coming off a loss. They’ll be highly motivated.
“They’re such an experienced basketball team. They know who they are, what they are and what they want to do. It’s going to be like every other game in this conference. Whoever plays well on that night is going to win it.”
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