Led by a career high 17 points from forward Andre Marhold, the Duquesne Dukes cruised through their home opener, defeating the Green Bay Phoenix 84-66 at the A.J. Palumbo Center Sunday afternoon.
↵The Dukes saw improvements in their offensive game, as their shooting percentage rose from the ice cold 32.8% they shot against Arizona to 42.6% against Green Bay.
↵"This was a good overall effort," head coach Ron Everhart said."I like that we were able to control the game with our fast guards."
↵Eric Evans and T.J. McConnell used quick passes and ball movement to work the Green Bay defense and set up easy baskets. McConnell scored 12 points while dishing out seven assists and zero turnovers. Evans chimed in with 10 points and three assists of his own.
↵The day would belong, however, to the junior Marhold, whose previous career high was seven points against Montana in the CBI last season. He shot 6 for 7 from the field and pulled down four rebounds in 25 minutes of game action. B.J. Monteiro also scored 17 to tie for the team high on the afternoon.
↵The Dukes broke the game open with a 12-1 run midway through the first half and would hold control the rest of the way. After holding a 37-23 lead at halftime the margin grew to as much as 20 in the second half, as Green Bay wouldn't get closer than 17 the rest of the way.
↵The Dukes played stout defense, holding the Phoenix to just a 24.2% field goal percentage in the first half and forced 19 turnovers.
↵Duquesne also benefited from a stellar day at the free-throw line, making their first 13 free throws and shooting 18-for-22 on the afternoon from the charity stripe.
↵One area of concern from this game was rebounding, as the much larger Phoenix won the battle on the glass 50-33.
↵The Dukes will now enter a pivotal stretch in their non-conference schedule, as they will play three games in three days at the Valparaiso Subregional of the 2K Sports Classic next weekend. The Dukes will face off with District of Columbia at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, then play the Akron Zips at 6:00 p.m. Saturday, before finishing with host Valparaiso at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
↵"We are going to have three games in three days, so we're going to have to prepare ourselves," Everhart said."Hopefully this will be a productive week of practice for us."