Despite a breakout performance by point guard Aaron Clarke, his game was not enough to carry the Stony Brook men’s basketball team and its poor shooting.

The Seawolves (1-2) took a trip to Pittsburgh to take on the Duquesne Dukes (3-0) on Monday evening. Though Clarke scored 22 points on 8-of-14 shooting, the rest of his teammates combined for just a 26.9% shooting percentage, leading to an 85-63 loss.

Stony Brook got going early, jumping out to a quick 6-2 lead through the first 90 seconds after center Chris Maidoh completed a three-point play. A few possessions later, Clarke intercepted a full-court pass by Duquesne point guard Jimmy Clark III and raced up the floor before splashing a pull-up three-pointer to take an 11-9 lead. 

Hard-nosed play was not sparse on either side, as three jump balls were called over the next two minutes. However, the physicality drained the Seawolves, as they went into a dry spell for over the next five and a half minutes, allowing the Dukes to grab a 19-11 advantage. A three-point play from power forward Andre Snoddy and another trey by Clarke cut their deficit to just two points with 7:31 remaining in the first half, but the game never got any closer.

Eight-straight points by Duquesne shooting guard Dae Dae Grant and another five from Clark III allowed their team to take a 35-26 lead into halftime. Duquesne center Fousseyni Drame extended Stony Brook’s deficit to 15 within the first four minutes of the second half when he caught a lob and finished an emphatic dunk.

Stony Brook kept the lead from getting out of hand by making four threes to cut the Dukes’ lead down to nine points with 10:20 remaining. This was short lived, as Clark III spearheaded a 31-18 extended run to put the nail in the Seawolves’ coffin, pouring in 13 points of his own during the stretch.

Stony Brook shot just 33.3% from the floor as a team and 24.3% in the first half. It was good from deep, knocking down 12 of its 29 (41.4%) three-point field goals. The team turned it around with a 44.8% field goal percentage in the second half, but a 50% shooting night from its opponent overpowered them.

Head coach Geno Ford tipped his cap to Duquesne for its stellar shooting performance.

“Duquesne played terrific offensively tonight,” Ford said in a postgame interview with Stony Brook Athletics. “We shot poorly in the first half, but responded with a good second half offensively.”

Clarke did everything for his team. Other than his scoring and overall shooting, he also led the squad with four assists and sank five of his nine three-pointers along with his only free throw.

Small forward Tyler Stephenson-Moore had a season-high 14 points, but his shooting percentage continued to suffer. He shot 5-for-15 from the floor, putting him at 36.7% for the season. However, he did shoot 4-for-9 from deep, putting him at 37.5% from three-point range so far this year. 

Trailing Clarke and Stephenson-Moore in the scoring column was Maidoh. He scored nine points in the first half, but put up a goose egg after halftime. He also pulled down five rebounds, blocked three shots and shelled out an assist. 

Snoddy led the Seawolves in rebounding, pulling down nine total with six coming on the offensive glass. He tallied four points, two assists and two steals but shot only 1-for-8 from the field. 

Clark III led all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-19 shooting. He also tallied four steals, three rebounds and two assists. Grant had his worst game of the year so far and still scored 19 points on 42.9% shooting. Drame put up a double-double off the bench with 15 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Point guard Kareem Rozier scored 11 points and dished out a game-high seven assists for the Dukes.

Ford cited the defense as something that will need to improve as the season progresses. 

“Our defense wasn’t good enough to stay attached as the game wore on,” Ford said. “That’s an excellent basketball team we played tonight and hopefully we can respond and play better on both ends Wednesday at Nebraska.”

Stony Brook will now take a trip down to Lincoln, Neb. for a matchup against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Wednesday. The Cornhuskers are 3-0 after beating Rider 64-50 on Monday. Opening tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.