By Chris Harlan

Published: Tuesday, November 20, 2012, 9:18 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Memories of this lopsided Duquesne loss, with its poor shooting and selfish play, won't be erased by a good night's sleep.

The Dukes' coaches won't allow it.

“They are going to see every single bad shot they took as a team,” coach Jim Ferry after Tuesday night's 57-43 loss to North Dakota State, a sluggish performance that saw the Dukes fall behind early and shoot just 27 percent while settling for poor shots.

Highlights of their misguided jumpers and out-numbered drives will greet the Dukes at Wednesday's pregame practice.

“The coaching staff will be up all night long,” Ferry said. “We'll come in (Wednesday) and they're going to see it because they've got to learn. … We can never let that rear its head again.”

The first six minutes couldn't have gone much worse for the Dukes (1-3), who had five turnovers and missed their first eight shots. When Sean Johnson scored with 14:06 left, NDSU (4-1) already had a 9-0 lead.

But the struggles persisted. The Bison's first-half lead reached 14 points before the 10-minute mark when Mike Felt and TrayVonn Wright made consecutive 3-pointers just a minute apart, and it peaked at 29-10 with 6:44 left in the first when Felt sank another 3-pointer.

“They came out ready to play,” Ferry said. “They came out more aggressive than we did. I thought we were flat and we became extremely selfish as a basketball team.”

The Dukes made just 16 of 59 shots, including 4 of 22 from 3-point range. No player scored in double figures; Andre Marhold led with nine. Johnson added eight points and eight rebounds, a night after being sidelined with painful cramps.

With seven of his 11 players being freshmen or sophomores, Ferry said he's seen ups and downs from the Dukes in practice. This letdown came one night after an emotional overtime win Monday against James Madison.

“That was an emotional game (Monday) night,” Ferry said. “You use up a lot of energy. And then the next night everybody played poorly. That's part of the process.”

Wright, a 6-foot-7 junior, had 18 points and 10 rebounds for NDSU, Marshall Bjorklund scored 12 points and Taylor Braun added 11. The Bison led at halftime, 34-19, and the Dukes couldn't close.

“We cut it to 10 and were trying to come back, but they were just making shots,” Johnson said. “We shot terrible. Our shot selection was poor.”

Chris Harlan is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at charlan@tribweb.com

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