Duquesne survived Bonnies, balloon in overtime victory

Playing on the road in college basketball can be difficult under normal circumstances, but Duquesne’s thrilling 81-78 overtime victory at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday nearly was derailed by – of all things — an orange balloon.

Duquesne held a lead for more than 32 minutes in the game, but St. Bonaventure was up two with 13 seconds left when sophomore guard Sincere Carry stepped to the foul line for a one-and-one.

While Carry was holding the ball, a balloon floated onto the court from the St. Bonaventure student section. A referee blew his whistle — it’s a technical foul, by the book — but Carry refused to flinch.

He made the free throw, which as it turned out didn’t count because it came after the whistle. Carry, a 78.3 percent free-throw shooter, gathered himself, dribbled three times, took two deep breaths – his new foul-shooting routine – and hit two more to send the game into overtime.

“I complained,” coach Keith Dambrot said, “but the referee said to me, `Would you want a technical on you if it was reversed?’

“I couldn’t answer. I wouldn’t want to lose a game because some fan threw something on the court. When he said that, I couldn’t really argue. Makes sense, right?

“It’s a bad deal, though. They iced our guy. They distracted him. He made it after the whistle, but it’s not very good sportsmanship. Let’s put it that way.

“Fortunately, Sin had enough mental toughness and enough focus not to miss the free throws. If you have to bet your house on somebody, you have to bet on Sincere making those.”

Carry said he was “kind of mad” when his first shot was disallowed. Then, he had to make two more while looking toward a sea of St. Bonaventure students sitting behind the basket.

“But I didn’t let it affect me,” he said. “I’m not really too focused on the crowd. I block it out. It’s just a regular shot at the end of the day.”