City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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Driven by a strong finish to the first half and a dominant second frame, Duquesne (3-0) rolled to its third straight victory and handed Penn State (2-1) the team's first lost of the young season on Friday night, 78-52. 

At First...
For the majority of the first half, the Nittany Lions and Dukes trade punches, with neither leading by more than five until the final three minutes, when Duquesne closed out the half on an 11-0 run to lead 37-26 at the break. Penn State only scored one field goal in the final six minutes of the opening frame, contributing to the comfortable halftime lead for Duquesne.

Turning Point...
Duquesne's strong end to the first half continued in full force entering the second, as the Dukes blew up their lead to more than 20 within the first six minutes, leading 55-30 with exactly fourteen minutes remaining. Their run, at that point, had been extended to an overwhelming 29-4 since the waning minutes of the first half, and the Dukes never looked back, having taken complete control of the contest. 

Shining Stars...
For the Nittany Lions, the only double-digit scorers on the night were forward Brandon Taylor with 14, forward Peyton Banks with 12, and guard Shep Garner with 12. Taylor and Garner each ripped down four boards for Penn State, while Banks had six. Other than those three, no other Penn State player scored more than four points. 

The game's clear star performance came from Duquesne guard Derrick Colter, who shot 6-for-9 from long distance to contribute to his game-high 26 points. Colter also had four assists for the Dukes. Fellow guard Micah Mason had an impressive seven assists, and big man Nakye Sanders had ten of the Dukes' 42 rebounds.

Noteworthy Numbers...
Penn State's offense struggled in every way to find scoring, shooting only 29 percent from the field on 5-of-21 three-point shooting. The Nittany Lions even shot a dismal 53 percent from the free throw line. On the flip side, Duquesne shot the ball extraordinarily well, just above 50 percent both from long range and from the field as a whole. Aside from the shooting numbers, both teams were evenly matched in most of the remaining influential stat categories; Duquesne only out-rebounded Penn State 42-37, and had only four more turnovers than the Nittany Lions. 

Up Next...
Penn State (2-1) vs. Radford (11/24, 6:00 p.m.)
Duquesne (3-0) vs. Pepperdine (11/23, 2:30 p.m.)