PITTSBURGH – The paltry crowd at the A.J. Palumbo Center and two lonely cardboard cutouts – one of Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen and the other of a camel – didn’t seem intimidating.

But GW trudged off the court toward the unfamiliar locker room after a 78-62 loss at Duquesne. The Colonials, who are now 3-7 on the road, had met their kryptonite once again in another difficult road game.

Despite 16 points each for juniors Kevin Larsen and Kethan Savage, the Colonials (17-7, 7-4 A-10) still shot just 31.9 percent. It was the Colonials’ first loss of the season in which they had scored more than 55 points, but Duquesne’s 78 points were the most scored against GW this season.

“It’s kind of the story of us on the road when we’re trying to score,” head coach Mike Lonergan said. “I think our guys are too focused on scoring, and then when we’re not scoring, we don’t really play good defense.”

There were few good moments: GW started 1-8 and ended on a turnover, but midway through the second half, the Colonials started to make a run. Savage hit three baskets for GW in a row, the last one a three, to pull within seven points.

But Duquesne (8-14, 3-8 A-10) followed with a 7-0 run, punctuated by the first three in the game for a Duquesne player besides juniors Micah Mason or Derrick Colter, when sophomore L.G. Gill scored from the corner.

“Every time we cut the lead to seven we couldn’t get a defensive stop, so that was frustrating,” Lonergan said.

Mason and Colter combined for eight three-pointers and 42 points, with Mason earning a career high with 24. The Colonials came into the game with the A-10’s third-best defense, but couldn’t stop the aggressiveness of Duquesne’s guards and allowed the Dukes to shoot 50.9 percent for the game.

“Their guards just destroyed us,” Lonergan said. “The same two guys that we basically shut down in our gym but when you’re not scoring where we really had trouble getting guys to understand you’ve got to guard.”

GW couldn’t keep pace, struggling to penetrate the Dukes’ 2-3 zone. The Colonials shot 20.5 percent in the first half, when even the easy chances just didn’t go through the hoop. GW had 17 offensive rebounds in the first half, but just eight second-chance points.

Duquesne began the season playing man coverage on defense, but switched to a 2-3 zone because opponents were scoring easily against head coach Jim Ferry’s personnel. The Colonials saw the zone earlier this season at the Smith Center and won handily – 74-59 with a dozen threes – but on the road with a few more weeks of practice on the books for the Dukes, they couldn’t crack it.

That’s not to say the Duquesne defense has gotten much better: The Dukes gave up 95 points to Davidson the game before they played GW. But whoever said history repeats itself should take a second look at the season series between GW and Duquesne. The Dukes were 5-15 from beyond the arc in their first matchup with GW in the Smith Center.

“I really don’t know,” Ferry said after he was asked why his team was so much better at home, where Duquesne is 7-6. He mentioned that it was a league-wide phenomenon that teams have played differently on the road. GW is a prime example.

GW is now 1-3 over the last four games and is facing a rematch with No. 20 VCU in the Smith Center on Saturday at 2 p.m.

This post was updated to reflect the following correction:
The Hatchet incorrectly reported that the Colonials record is 17-1. It is 17-7. We regret this error.