Hooley’s Career Night Comes Up Short for Men’s Basketball at Duquesne

PITTSBURGH, PA.- University at Albany men’s basketball (2-2) dropped its second straight game on the road on Wednesday night, falling 70-59 at Duquesne. Sophomore shooting guard Peter Hooley scored a career-high 21 points in the loss.

UAlbany got off to a rough start in the first half, with starting forward and leading scorer Sam Rowley picking up his second foul on a moving screen at the 16:44 mark in the first half. The Great Danes continued to be plagued by turnovers early on, tallying 13 in the first half, more than their total turnovers in two of their first three games.

The Purple & Gold went 5-of-20 (.250) from the field in the first half and just 5-of-9 (.556) from the free throw line. UAlbany couldn’t find the handle from the field late in the first half, going on a seven-minute field goal drought. Peter Hooley snapped the scoring skid with thirty seconds left. The basket gave him 10 points to close the half.

UAlbany’s first half point total of 16 was the team’s lowest scoring effort in the first half since Jan. 26 at home against Vermont last season. In that game, Will Brown’s squad had scored 15 going into the locker room at the break.

The Great Danes came out of the locker room on a tear, making a 14-3 run in the opening minutes of the second half. UAlbany had doubled up its first half score at the 15:25 mark of the second half, and went 8-for-8 from the field prior to the first media timeout at 15:11.

A lay-in and five straight points from Luke Devlin at the 12:28 mark gave UAlbany its first lead since a 3-2 advantage in the opening moments of the game. Devlin finished with eight points and five rebounds.
Hooley continued to pace UAlbany through the second half, scoring 11 points in addition to three assists. The sophomore’s career high of 21 points is the highest individual single-game scoring effort for the Great Danes through four games. Hooley went 8-for-16 from the field and 3-for-6 from three-point range.

The Purple & Gold extended the lead to as many as two points, thanks to a lay-up from Gary Johnson with eight minutes left, and a three-pointer from Hooley with 6:28 remaining. The Great Danes couldn’t quite pull away from the Dukes late in the second half. Duquesne took advantage of an and-one opportunity with 2:35 left to extend its margin to eight points.

UAlbany managed to limit the turnovers in the second half, committing just four in addition to shooting 54.8 percent from the field. The Great Danes uncharacteristically struggled from the charity stripe, going 11-for-19 (.579). It was the team’s lowest single-game free throw percentage since a 6-for-11 (.545) clip at South Carolina State on the same day last season.

Gary Johnson matched his career high with 12 points against the Dukes on 5-of-6 shooting. Sam Rowley notched his first double-digit rebounding effort of the season with 10. The junior has recorded six 10+ rebounding games in his career.

The Great Danes return home on Saturday night to face Bucknell (2-2) at 7 p.m., at SEFCU Arena.