Duquesne and St. Bonaventure faced off in the 2nd round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. For the first 30 minutes, the Dukes were in complete control, up by as much as 13 points in the second half. However, the Bonnies made a furious comeback to eventually take the lead and win the game late, 64-59.
It was the Dukes’ final game of the season and one last scoring drought did them in. Here are some takeaways from the defeat.
Turnovers proved costly
In the first half, both teams had just five turnovers each. However, Duquesne failed in that area, turning it over 13 more times, which allowed the Bonnies to take a 20-4 edge in points off turnovers. With them shooting under 40% from the field, those extra possessions and easy opportunities was what did them in.
Max Edwards strong game
Duquesne head coach Dru Joyce was just brought to tears talking about Maximus Edwards’ resilience this season.
— David Korn (@david_korn4) March 13, 2025
Edwards had a difficult start to the year, but has flourished as of late in a bench role. He had a team-high 18 points in the second round loss to St. Bonaventure.
In the first half of the season, Edwards was almost out of the rotation after his struggles. However, he had a solid second half, including a number of big outings. He led all scorers in this game with 18 points on 7/12 FG, making 3/7 from deep. The lack of consistent offense elsewhere hurt them late, but Edwards wasn’t the issue., at times, being the only reliable option on offense.
Inability to close out games late
Duquesne’s offense largely got what they wanted in the first 30 minutes. But they weren’t able to get anything going in the final segments. This was similar to what happened at the end of regulation and OT versus Saint Louis, which prevented them from getting a 7 seed in the tournament. There were improvements throughout the season, but one area that still needed work on was how they handled pressure late. In this game, they didn’t handle it well, and it ended their 2024-25 campaign.