PITTSBURGH – Talk about a long strange trip…
The BR-144 Duquesne men’s basketball team’s 30 hour bus trip from their 86-75 win over BR-217 George Mason was certainly the talk of the nation during last weekend’s Nor’Easter which paralyzed the Northeast Corridor from New York to Virginia.
The big question inside the A.J. Palumbo Center on Tuesday night was how the Dukes would react to being stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for over 22 hours.
After a slow start, Duquesne (14-7, 4-4 Atlantic 10) pulled away in the final eight minutes to defeat an undermanned BR-262 LaSalle 87-60 in front of 1,751 fans, many clad in white t-shirts as part of a “white out” promotion.
We take a deeper look into the past five days for the Boys From the Bluff in tweets, videos and much more…
FERRY REACHES A MILESTONE
The Dukes’ game at George Mason had originally been scheduled for Saturday afternoon at George Mason’s EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va. Due to the Nor’Easter, however, the game was moved up to Friday afternoon and played at the smaller Recreation and Athletics Complex, home to the George Mason volleyball and wrestling team.
Lost in the Pennsylvania Turnpike drama was Duquesne head coach Jim Ferry winning his 300th career game in the Dukes’ 86-75 win over the Patriots. Micah Mason led the Dukes with 23 points, while Derrick Colter chipped in 19 and L.G. Gill added 18.
Ferry, in his fourth season at Duquesne, is 47-65 on The Bluff, having taken an 8-22 team in during his first season and having them on the verge of their first winning season since replacing Ron Everhart before the 2012-2013 season. He had previously coached at Plymouth State (22-8), Adelphi (82-11, D2 Northeast Regional Champions in 2001 and 2002) and LIU Brooklyn (150-149, NCAA appearances in 2011 and 2012).
And then, the team began what would turn out to be a long 30 hour ordeal.
STORM TRACKED FURTHER NORTH THAN FORECAST
Sarge: the best bus driver in the country. pic.twitter.com/oVhIIsoHD7
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) January 24, 2016
The bus departed from Fairfax at 4:30 p.m. Friday night, just as the storm began battering Virginia and the Washington metro area. When the team’s bus got on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Breezewood, where Interstate 70 merges onto the Turnpike, traffic had been moving slowly, but at least it was moving. By 9:00 p.m. on Friday night, however, that changed dramatically.
Highway Obstruction/Congestion I-76EB @ MM105.1, between Donegal(Exit 91) & Somerset(Exit 110) affecting all lanes
— PATurnpike Statewide (@PATPStatewide) January 23, 2016
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports a pair of tractor-trailers got stuck in the Allegheny Tunnels in Somerset County, causing a nearly 16 mile backup which began west of the Bedford interchange.
“When the traffic came to a stop, my first thing on my mind was ‘there’s an accident on the hill’ and hopefully weren’t there too long,” said Eugene Sargent, the Lenzner Tours driver who drove the Dukes back from Virginia. “But, naturally, we were.”
The snowstorm caught most of Pennsylvania’s road crews off guard as it tracked further north than originally forecasted.
“The storm wasn’t supposed to come that far,” Sargent said. “Once we got to Breezewood, there wasn’t supposed to be any snow.”
MAKING THE MOST OF A BAD SITUATION
.@DuqMBB stuck in standstill traffic on the turnpike. Snagged the remaining drinks from underneath the bus pic.twitter.com/gaXrB3VnA3
— Duquesne Equipment (@DuqEquipment) January 23, 2016
When the bus was stuck at first, there didn’t seem to be a sense of panic. As the hours wore on, however, the players toughed it out as nearly a foot and a half of snow fell in Somerset County.
Just stepped off the bus | at least 18" of snow outside the door pic.twitter.com/F0aSPZFbWK
— Duquesne Athletics (@GoDuquesne) January 23, 2016
“The only thing that was going through my mind after a few hours was trying to keep the bus heated up and keep the team together and stuff, Sargent said. “I’ve never experienced being in one spot that long. I’ve been in accidents that maybe took six or seven hours and we moved, but not (being stopped) that long overnight.”
The players would keep their wits throughout the ordeal, even getting their Twitter followers involved.
#DUQMBB stuck in traffic on the PA Turnpike. Manager Alex Kwong keeping the Dukes entertained with charades pic.twitter.com/qahihkUQE8
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) January 23, 2016
And then, there was this little gem from senior walkon Nick Foschia:
Nick Foschia: known for three-pointer celebrations, Cleveland sports knowledge, and now snow angels #DUQSurvivor pic.twitter.com/o3g4OgyAhe
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) January 23, 2016
The players met some new friends, as a group of school children returning to Iowa were stuck on the bus next to theirs…
We're not in this alone! Dukes hanging out with middle schoolers from Iowa on the bus stuck next to us pic.twitter.com/8vBWa1x68c
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) January 23, 2016
When they weren’t making new friends, the players and staff were helping out as best as they could:
Help digging out all buses. #allin pic.twitter.com/4jpdO5KcU5
— Duquesne Equipment (@DuqEquipment) January 24, 2016
LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
It is becoming increasingly unlikely that #DUQMBB will be able to leave the Turnpike tonight. Preparing for another night on the bus.
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) January 23, 2016
By last Saturday evening, with the team facing the prospect of another night stranded on the Turnpike, some good news finally hit shortly before 7:00 p.m.
Forward progress has been made. Stopped from 9:15pm last night to 7:29pm tonight. Still work to be done to get out.
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) January 24, 2016
The Duquesne equipment staff got their followers to vote on who would help get the bus moving, the results of which couldn’t be much of a surprise…
Who should push the bus?
— Duquesne Equipment (@DuqEquipment) January 23, 2016
And here are the aforementioned walkons saving the day…
We did learn one neat trick for how to get unstuck from snow drifts…
How did @DuqMBB dig bus out of the snow? Team used pizza boxes and borrowed garbage cans from other buses as shovels. No joke. #Duquesne
— Zach Schonbrun (@zschonbrun) January 24, 2016
To paraphrase the great line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, “there was much rejoicing” on board the bus…
Shortly before 11:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday night, the Dukes’ bus finally exited off the Parkway East (Interstate 376) onto the Blvd. of the Allies and returned to The Bluff.
Home sweet home. 30 hours, 24 minutes after departure. pic.twitter.com/VE59xGsudd
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) January 24, 2016
At least we know who the Duquesne staff won’t be turning to for future weather advice…
For those asking, yes, this will be the last time we take our weather advice from @IAmSteveHarvey
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) January 23, 2016
OH, YES, THE GAME…
By Sunday, Duquesne made big plans for their ensuing home game at the Palumbo Center…
#DUQMBB was stuck in a snowstorm for 22 hours, so Tuesday night's game against La Salle will be a WHITE OUT
— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) January 25, 2016
“The idea on campus to have a white out in regards to the snow,” Ferry said. “I thought it was great, that’s why I went out and got my white jacket here to support the students. It was good and that’s important, not only because of the ordeal we went through, but because this is a good basketball team. We’re playing good basketball.”
Even the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, an agency not exactly known for their competence and smart planning (based on this writer’s nearly two decades of first-hand experience) got in on the fun.
#GoodLuck tonight Duquesne! @DuqMBB @GoDuquesne #DUQWhiteout @PA_Turnpike pic.twitter.com/IzClNucH5a
— PennsylvaniaTurnpike (@PA_Turnpike) January 26, 2016
The Dukes got off to a sluggish start against a LaSalle team who was missing a key player in sophomore forward Yebgen Sakhniuk, who missed the game due to an illness, and, with the return of Rohan Brown (knee injury), were down to eight scholarship players, and just five with college experience. Duquesne (14-7, 4-4 Atlantic 10)
Here the the full highlights from tonight's @DuqMBB 87-60 #A10MBB win over @GoExplorers https://t.co/1D4UFeX9CJ
— Atlantic 10 MBB (@A10MBB) January 27, 2016
Duquesne hit just seven of their first 20 shots in the first 13 minutes, including 3-of-9 from three-point range; the Explorers, however, couldn’t take advantage, as they hit on 7-of-23 shots from the field in that span as the Dukes crawled to an 20-18 lead with 7:10 left.
“At the first media timeout, our legs were blown out,” Mason said. “After that, we got our feet up under us. They played a slower way on offense which actually helped, and we took advantage of it.”
Ferry didn’t seem to share that opinion.
“I thought it hurt us,” Ferry said. “We’re trying to play in that rhythm and tempo and get it going. I thought it was going to linger; that’s why it was ugly there for a while.”
When halftime rolled around, the Dukes hung on to a 32-26 lead after shooting 12-of-32 from the field in the first half.
LaSalle (5-13, 1-6 Atlantic 10) slowed down Duquesne’s up tempo offense into the second half, but that didn’t stop the Dukes from pulling away in the second half.
“We knew they were going to wait until 15 on the shot clock to run their plays,” said Colter, who led all scorers with 27 points. “We had to be patient and contest all their shots.”
Colter would play a big role in the final ten minutes of the game, scoring the first seven points of a 34-16 closeout run, including a seven minute stretch where the Dukes hit 11 straight shots. The Explorers, dealing with depth issues in which three of their starters played the all 40 minutes, couldn’t keep pace.
“For 30 minutes, it was a game, but when we tried to play a little faster, that’s when it got out of hand,” said LaSalle head coach John Gannnini. “When we fell behind 12 to 14 points, I wanted to see if we could pick up the tempo and maybe make a little run, but it only made things worse. The guys they brought off the bench at the end made shots and were extremely athletic and we were demoralized at the end.”
LOOKING AHEAD
Eric James added 11 points and 15 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season, while Mason added 14 and Gill added 12. With the win, Duquesne continued to battle their way back into the A-10 standings.
“I don’t know how many teams could start out 0-3 in the Atlantic-10 and bounce back and be .500 this quickly,” Ferry said. “So I have to give these guys a lot of credit.”
The Dukes took a while to recover from the loss of senior forward Jeremiah Jones, who suffered a season ending ACL injury on Dec. 19 against BR-298 Robert Morris.
“It was devastating for us and it took us a while for us to figure ourselves out since he’s been gone, but we’re getting better at it,” Ferry said.
Duquesne faces another road test this Saturday when they travel to BR-192 St. Louis, who the Dukes defeated 81-71 at the Palumbo Center on Jan. 13, a game in which the Billikens were held to 13 points in the first half.
“We got up 33 points on them [with 8:24 left] and wound up finishing the game up 10,” Ferry said. “Since then, they’ve completely changed. They’ve been playing an up-tempo style, they’ve been scoring 90 points every time I’ve been watching them. It’s almost like we scrapped that last scouting report. It’s like playing a different team.”
