Duquesne 78, St. Joseph’s 60: Stats, highlights, and reaction from Hawks’ loss

It didn’t take long to figure out Duquesne’s scouting report against St. Joseph’s.

When Ryan Daly drove the ball to the basket, he was surrounded by red Duquesne jerseys. When he came up the court for an offensive possession, he was constantly denied a chance to touch the ball. When he got the ball in the post, he was swarmed like bees attacking honey.

The Dukes emphasized stopping Daly, so other Hawks were forced to carry the load. St. Joe’s (3-12, 0-3 Atlantic 10) couldn’t make up for Daly being held to 3 points, losing 78-60 .

Daly didn’t make his first shot until he placed a soft floater over a contested defense with 10:29 left in the second half.

Marcus Weathers had 15 points and 6 rebounds for Duquesne (13-2, 3-0), which had four scorers reach double figures. The Dukes shot 50% from the field while holding St. Joe’s to 28.8%.

Freshman guard Cameron Brown led the Hawks with a season-high 17 points. Brown scored 12 points in the second half. He has scored a season-high in back-to-back games.

Myles Douglas added 12 points, and Lorenzo Edwards had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Daly was held to 1-of-8 shooting.

“[I’m] really proud of Cameron Brown’s effort,” coach Billy Lange said. "I thought he was great. “If we can keep that going, that’s a real positive trend for us.”

“In the beginning of the first half, I thought our open looks were good,” Lange said. “You just have to make them, and that’s basketball. If you’re doing the right things and missing, sometimes it can be a little dispirited, but that’s where we have to keep continuing to grow.”

“If we go back and study tonight, we’re going to see some things we have to get better at, but we got a lot of good looks,” Lange said. “Now, you try to tighten up some defensive mistakes where [when] you miss open looks, instead of being down 14, maybe you’re down 9.”

Inconsistency has been the biggest problem for the Hawks this season, not just in terms of wins and losses, but in their ability to keep games close. On Sunday, they were in a single-digit game with 20th-ranked Dayton with less than five minutes to go before losing, 80-67. They’ve beaten UConn and have close losses to Villanova and Florida. On the opposite end, two of their last four losses have been by 32 or more points.

The Hawks still rely heavily on Daly. His season-low is 2 points against Temple, which also happened to be the Hawks’ most-lopsided loss. He was held to 8 points in a blowout loss to Richmond. Douglas and Brown have shown flashes that they can carry the team offensively, but it has not been enough.