Nov. 17, 2009
By Sean Neugent
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Duquesne made big shots all night, none bigger than a three-pointer delivered from the hands of Bill Clark with less than 10-seconds remaining in Tuesday’s game against the University of Iowa in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Hawkeyes could not score in their final possession and lost to the Dukes, 52-50, on Tuesday in the O’Reilly CBE Classic.
The Hawkeyes (0-2 overall) struggled all night from the field, but played tough defense to give them a shot for the victory. Iowa shot 18 of 57 (32 percent) from the floor, 6 of 27 (22 percent) from long range, and 8 of 15 (53 percent) from the charity stripe. The Hawkeyes held Duquesne in check in the second half, limiting the Dukes to 19 points. Iowa was led in scoring by Anthony Tucker with 16 points, Cully Payne had six assists, and Matt Gatens added nine points and eight rebounds.
“It is going to be really hard to win shooting 32 percent,” UI head coach Todd Lickliter said. “I told the team before we played `what if we do that again, we shot so poorly the other day, are we just going to say well we didn’t shoot it well and use that excuse for it? Or are we going to make every hustle play and give ourselves a chance?’ And we did, we won so many hustle plays today. Give Duquesne credit because they hit two big three’s when they needed to have them.”
Both teams struggled to shoot in the early stages of the game. Clark put the Dukes on the board with a short jumper.
The Hawkeyes took the lead with 15:03 when Duquesne (2-0) stole a pass from Tucker. Tucker rushed back to steal the ball back near midcourt and dove on the ground to grab the ball. While he was on the floor he was able to get a pass to Eric May who made a layup for an 8-7 advantage.
Duquesne regained the lead with a trey from Damian Saunders to make it 12-8. The Hawkeyes pushed it within two with a layup from Tucker before the Dukes answered with a fast-break layup from Saunders. Gatens assisted Jarryd Cole inside for a layup and was fouled, but missed the free throw to trail by two points.
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“It is going to be really hard to win shooting 32 percent. I told the team before we played `what if we do that again, we shot so poorly the other day, are we just going to say well we didn’t shoot it well and use that excuse for it? Or are we going to make every hustle play and give ourselves a chance?’ And we did, we won so many hustle plays today. Give Duquesne credit because they hit two big three’s when they needed to have them.”
UI head coach
Todd Lickliter
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A layup by Tucker put the Hawkeyes ahead and Cole hit a long range two-pointer for a 19-16 advantage with 6:05 remaining. Saunders than went on a tear, scoring seven straight points for the Dukes for a 23-19 lead before Iowa’s Devan Bawinkel hit from the left side of the arc to move within one-point.
The Dukes went on a 10-0 run after Bawinkel’s three-pointer. The Hawkeyes went into the locker room picking up some momentum when Gatens threw up a shot from the right corner of the arc as time was expiring and was fouled. He made all three of his free throws to trail 33-25 at the end of the half. The second half started off with a bang when Clark drained one from downtown and
Tucker answered it with one of his own from the top of the key. A few possessions later Aaron Fuller rebounded a Cole misfire and kicked it out to Cully Payne who drew the defenders toward him and assisted Fuller right back down low for an uncontested layup as the Hawkeyes cut it to a six-point deficit.
Clark remained a hot shooter and drained another three-ball for a commanding 41-30 advantage. May assisted Brennan Cougill down low for a dunk and he was fouled on the play and hit from the charity stripe to cut it to a single-digit lead.
Tucker drilled a three with 13:36 left in the game to slim the margin to 41-36. The Hawkeyes continued to show hustle when Tucker had an ill-advised pass to Duquesne, the Dukes looked like they had an easy fastbreak layup before May came out of nowhere to block the shot. The block went out of bounds as the Dukes retained possession, but were not able to score off of the inbounds play.
Tucker continued to give the Dukes problems when he went hard to the basket and was fouled before he hit the layup and made the latter free throw to trail 44-39. Tucker’s three attempt bounced in-and-out and Cougill was able to muscle his way for a rebound and put it back up to get within three with less than seven-minutes remaining for the game. A free throw and layup by Cole cut the Dukes lead to 46-44.
As time expired on the shot clock Gatens threw one up from downtown and swished it from the top of the key to take their first lead since early in the first half at 47-46 with 2:50 to go.
With momentum on their side Saunders went up hard to the basket and made it, but Cole planted his feet and Saunders was called for the charge to give the Hawkeyes the ball.
“I feel like we are doing a great job,” Tucker said. “I feel like we are playing well enough defensively to win. I think it is a good problem to have to try and generate offense from somewhere. It is better than not being able to stop people from scoring.”
The Dukes came surging right back as Jason Duty hit a three from behind-the-arc to regain a two-point advantage. A possession later Gatens drove the lane and missed a layup attempt as Cougill grabbed the loose ball. He put it up and made the basket while getting fouled and hit a free throw for a one-point lead with a minute left in the game.
Clark hit an off-balance three attempt with 10-seconds remaining to give the Dukes a two point lead. Tucker pushed the ball up the court and missed a fade-away and the Hawkeyes recovered and called a timeout. May was blocked on the inbounds pass to end the game.