AMHERST – The intensity Duquesne closed the first half with caught the UMass men’s basketball team off guard. The Dukes turned a 12-point deficit into a one-point lead at halftime.
“They raised their level, and we didn’t really match that,” UMass coach Matt McCall said. “In the second half, we got whipped off the bounce a bunch.”
Duquesne found its footing after some early rust returning from nearly a three-week layoff and led UMass for the entire second half, ultimately winning 78-74 on Saturday to end the Minutemen’s six-game home winning streak. It was the Dukes’ first win in Amherst since 2011 and their third in a row this season.
UMass (7-7, 0-2 Atlantic 10) cut the deficit back to just one point three times in the second half: on a C.J. Kelly layup that made it 35-34 with 17 minutes, 12 seconds remaining, a Noah Fernandes 3 with 3:10 left to bring the Minutemen within 68-67, and with 2:02 left Rich Kelly sank two free throws to make it 70-69.
The first time, Duquesne (6-7, 1-0) responded with a Tre Williams make at the other end.
UMass had its best chance at 68-67. The Dukes’ Kevin Easley missed a quick 3, but Duquesne grabbed an offensive rebound. UMass forward Trent Buttrick fouled Austin Rotroff to trigger a 1-and-1, and he missed the front end to return the ball to the Minutemen.
UMass big Michael Steadman traveled in a crowd of bodies after a strong pass to get him a good look inside.
Primo Spears, who had 21 points for the Dukes, pushed the lead back out to 3 with a jumper with 2:11 remaining.
Kelly’s free throws reeled Duquesne back again, and Leon Ayers III responded with another make.
McCall called timeout with a chance to tie and dialed up a play to get C.J. Kelly to the rim. The Minutemen executed it, but Rotroff pinned it on the backboard for the block, a risky move with four fouls.
Spears sank another jumper to make it a two-possession game, and UMass couldn’t make enough stops to catch up.
Duquesne hit its last three shots – all jumpers out of isolation plays – and its final two free throws.
“I spoke to the guards afterward and said ‘we’ve got to put this one on our shoulders,’” said C.J. Kelly, who led UMass with 19 points but turned the ball over four times. “Duquesne just started not even running plays at one point. We’ve got to step up, more pride, and say we’re not going to allow (that). That just can’t happen.”
Jackie Johnson III led the Dukes with 27 points, tying a career high.
The Minutemen also turned the ball over 17 times compared to 14 assists, matching a season-high from the Harvard win. That led to 22 Duquesne points.
The Dukes defended pick and rolls more aggressively than they’d shown this season and sent double teams in the post, which caused some of the turnovers.
“We were trying to make the right play,” Steadman said. “We just failed to take care of the ball. That contributed to our collapse.”
Steadman started for the first time in his UMass career after working his way back from an injury to earn bench minutes and seized the opportunity. The Montana transfer scored nine points in the game’s first 6:54 and added two offensive rebounds and a block.
“I just wanted to come out and be aggressive as possible, give my team the best chance to win, get early duck ins and seals and try to score around the basket,” Steadman said. “That was basically my mindset: try to dominate.”
He helped stake UMass a 14-4 lead before going to the bench for the first time, and advantage reached 12 with 8:41 to halftime. Steadman finished with 13 points and six rebounds, one of four Minutemen in double figures.
Rich Kelly had 16, while Fernandes scored 14. Fernandes picked up his second foul with 7:09 to halftime and sat for 4½ minutes. His third foul came with 6:16 left on an offensive foul call that neither he nor the Mullins Center crowd agreed with, and he added No. 4 with 4:01 remaining. He’s had at least four fouls in three of the past four games and fouled out at Richmond on Wednesday. The foul trouble limited his defensive options on an Ayers post up with 1:43 left that made it 72-69.
“I like his aggressiveness. I think we’ve got to continue to coach him, show him film. Show him his fouls, the ones he can avoid,” McCall said. “We don’t want to take away his aggressiveness, especially defensively because we’ve seen him really change games with his on-ball pressure.”
UMass used eight players Saturday after running with a similar stable Wednesday. T.J. Weeks returned from quarantine after not practicing at all this week to play 12 minutes. The Minutemen only practiced with eight Friday due to health and safety protocols.
“I’m not making an excuse, but it’s hard to get better when you can’t really go five on five,” McCall said. “We’ve got to get healthy. We’ve got to be able to get 10, 11 guys out there on the practice floor to work on some of the things that are causing us some problems.”
The Minutemen are scheduled to return to the court Tuesday at Davidson before returning to the Mullins Center on Jan. 15 against Rhode Island.
“After every game we’ve lost I think we’ve gotten better at something,” C.J. Kelly said.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.