Dru Joyce III quietly seemed annoyed. For a time, he scrapped his usual articulate dialogue and preferred to cut to the point.
Mellow in nature, Duquesne’s basketball coach clearly was chafed.
“Got off to a good start. Didn’t finish half as strong as we needed to,” Joyce said Wednesday night, not long after his Dukes suffered a colossal second-half collapse and stumbled to an 87-79 loss to longtime nemesis St. Bonaventure at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
The second-year coach subtly was seething.
“It’s not hard to tell,” he went on. “Go to the second half, and you give up 52 points. We didn’t play a complete game. We didn’t guard.”
Darryl Simmons II scored 31 points, and St. Bonaventure (13-8, 2-6) pulled away in the second half, denying Duquesne (11-10, 3-5) its first Atlantic 10 home victory of the season.
Dasonte Bowen added 19 points for St. Bonaventure, which rallied from 13 points down in the first half and erased a four-point halftime deficit by outscoring Duquesne, 52-40, in the second half to win its third consecutive game in a series that dates to 1920.
St. Bonaventure is Duquesne’s most frequent all-time opponent and improved its all-time series lead to 73-65.
The Bonnies shot 55.8% overall and 66.7 in the second half. They also converted 21 of 26 free throws, whereas Duquesne made just 12 off 22.
“They made more from that range, but there’s a lot to be said about the game other than free throws,” Joyce said.
Tarence Guinyard led Duquesne with 12 points and a school-record tying 12 assists. David Dixon also scored 12 points, Jimmie Williams added 11 and Brandon Hall, making his second career start, and John Hugley IV each finished with 10 for the Dukes, who next entertain Rhode Island at noon Sunday.
Guinyard’s 12 assists tied four others for the record, including Bryant McAllister, the last to do it in a game against Fordham in 2006.
Simmons shot 8 for 11 overall and 4 for 7 from 3-point range for St. Bonaventure. He converted 11 of 12 from the free-throw line, including a pair with 13 minutes, 10 seconds left to give the Bonnies their first lead 49-48.
St. Bonaventure built its lead to double digits on a basket by Frank Mitchell with 3:33 remaining and held off Duquesne’s late push that saw the Dukes get within six points in the final minute.
Duquesne shot 43.8% and was 11 for 27 (40.7) from 3-point range.
Joyce stared at the stats sheet when reminded of Guinyard’s double-double of 12 points and 12 assists. He congratulated his senior point guard.
But the faint smirk on Joyce’s face tempered his enthusiasm as he turned back to an articulate tone.
“We didn’t defend. We didn’t put stops together,” Joyce said. “You’ve got to be disciplined to get stops. You’ve got to have all five guys working to get stops. We never set the tone. The tone starts with the guy on the ball. That’s usually the point guard. It starts with how are we going dictate this possession. Am I picking him up full court, like we should be? Or am I three feet off, now picking up at half court, which leads to the next guy giving up his energy … and energy … and energy. We just didn’t do that.”
Simmons seemingly scored at will in the second half for the Bonnies, another notion that vexed Joyce.
“We didn’t guard anybody. He was just the beneficiary of making shots,” Joyce said. “But that could be anybody’s shots. He’s a really good shooter. He’s one of the best shooters in the A-10. If you don’t guard him, he’s going to make shots. Consistently, he found himself open … He had his way.”
St. Bonaventure racked up 22 assists on 29 field goals and consistently beat Duquesne to the basket as the game wore on.
For much of the night, the game was tight, much like the scoring averages in the all-time series. Duquesne entered the game averaging 71.5 points against St. Bonaventure, which was averaging 70.9 against the Dukes.
The rebounding battle was nearly dead-even with St. Bonaventure holding a 35-34 edge.
The teams have waged so many of these rough-and-tumble tussles that it’s hard to keep count. The latest game in the series continued a chippiness that seemingly prevails every time out.
Most times, it’s an all-out war, and Wednesday night’s 138th meeting between the two A-10 rivals was no different.
When it was over, St. Bonaventure, for the third consecutive time, had won the battle and Duquesne remained winless in four conference home games.
When St. Bonaventure gained momentum midway through the second half, Duquesne wilted. Joyce pointed to a failing defense again as the culprit.
“We have to be more dialed in, and we have to have a will. I can’t impact will,” he said. “That’s where it stops. I can motivate the play. I can push and challenge and put together a strategy. But your will, that’s internal. You have to want to. It’s going to burn. Your legs are going to be tired. It’s going to take a toll on your body, but that’s just what it takes to win. You have to be all in on winning, so you’ve got to be all in on defense.”