Short-handed Duquesne falls to VCU, 5-game winning streak snapped

Overstating the importance of Sincere Carry’s absence from the Duquesne men’s basketball team Saturday at Palumbo Center would be difficult.

Dukes coach Keith Dambrot beat everyone to the punch following the Dukes’ 80-74 loss to VCU. Dambrot made sure to put a qualifier in front of the comparison to avoid putting too much pressure on the freshman guard, who averages 12.1 points and 5.8 assists.

“I’m not going to put him in the same category, but this is an analogy,” Dambrot said. “Playing without Sincere is like the Penguins playing without Sidney Crosby. I’m not saying he’s that caliber, but it’s all relative.”

Duquesne (14-6, 5-2) saw its five-game winning streak come to an end. It was the Dukes’ seventh straight loss against the Rams.

The Dukes offense never looked right without Carry, who sat out with a knee injury. Tavian Dunn-Martin handled most of Carry’s workload, recording a career-high 21 points in a career-high 35 minutes.

“I think I’m in pretty good shape to handle those,” said Dunn-Martin, who had five assists and four turnovers. “It was kind of hard playing without taking a break. Toward the end, I got tired and made mistakes that cost us the game, but I felt fine.”

Things were especially bad down the stretch. Duquesne shot 16.7 percent (2 of 12) from beyond the arc in the second half, losing a chance to fortify its position among the top of the Atlantic 10 standings.

“The difference between Tavian and Sin is nothing bothers Sin,” Dambrot said. “Tavian, sometimes things bother him, but he’ll grow out of that. He’s a tough, little guy nobody wanted. I make my living with little guys nobody wanted.”

From the outset, the Dukes had their shaky moments.

VCU (14-6, 5-2) scored the game’s first seven points and led 16-5 following a Vince Williams layup with 13 minutes, 56 seconds left in the first half.

Contributors from the Dukes’ bench helped bring them back with a 33-13 run. Gavin Bizeau, who had scored 12 points on the season, knocked down two 3-pointers and scored eight first-half points. Dunn-Martin scored 12 points in the first half.

Following 3-pointers from Dunn-Martin and Frankie Hughes, Duquesne surged ahead 38-29 with 2:53 to play in the first half.

“We settled down,” said Hughes, who finished with 20 points. “We came together as a group and realized what the goal was and what our execution was. We started to execute much better.”

The Dukes took a 41-39 lead into the break.

VCU went ahead for good, 59-57, when Mike’l Simmons made a layup with 9:48 remaining to start a 7-0 run.

VCU outrebounded Duquesne, 45-27. Marcus Santos-Silva led the Rams with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Marcus Evans also scored 22 for VCU.

The Dukes struggled to get scoring from several starters. Michael Hughes (seven points) and Marcus Weathers (two) were held below their season average.

“We didn’t get great performances from our main guys,” Dambrot said. “Our peripheral guys were fine. We haven’t been in a lot of a lot of high-emotional, big games at home. I thought we were jittery early.”

Josh Rizzo is a freelance writer.