Dukes trip Lamar, 65-64, on Lewis’ late 3

we didn’t make any plays, then we made all our plays when it mattered,” Dambrot said. “So, I give tribute to our guys. We struggled. We played pretty good defense the first half and pretty poor defense the second half. All night we were a little disjointed offensively, but that’s kind of how we are.”

Lewis led the Dukes (8-3) with 16 points, eight in the final two minutes.

“I knew I had been struggling all night, but I canceled that out and told myself I’d get a clean look and knock it down,” Lewis said. “That’s what I did.”

The Dukes’ six consecutive wins in December are their most since 1980, and this marks Duquesne’s longest win streak since winning 11 consecutive games in the 2010 season. Its previous five wins came by an average of 25.6 points.

Duquesne shot 39.6 percent from the field and made 20 of 34 free throws, relying on its defense and Lewis’ rally for the win. This is the third time this season the Dukes have won when shooting less than 40 percent —– in the previous five years, Duquesne tallied just three wins when shooting less than 40 percent.

“We’ve really been putting the emphasis on the defensive end, and that’s key for our game because every game is going to be tough for us,” said sophomore Kellon Taylor, who added nine rebounds. “We’re not as strong offensively this year, so we have to be stronger on defense.”

“Defense is purely effort. It’s just if you want to guard. I felt like we just wanted to win tonight.”

In the first half, the Dukes opened shooting 3 of 13 from the field and fell behind a physical Lamar team, 14-7, before four free throws by freshman Eric Williams Jr. cut the deficit to 16-12 with 8:23 left. A layup by Taylor tied the score at 17-17 and junior guard Tarin Smith converted a 3 to make it 26-22.

A corner 3 by Smith, who finished with 11 points, gave Duquesne a 47-44 lead with 12:36 to play. Graduate student and guard Rene Castro-Caneddy, who added 15 points, made an easy layup to claim a 51-48 lead before Lamar later retook the lead with a 3-pointer by Joey Frenchwood.

In the final two minutes, Lewis made a layup, fought for a steal and sank a 3 to cut the deficit to two points. Lewis’ final 3-pointer polished off the win.

A game like this, marred with shooting droughts and the Dukes in a hole late, is one the team often lost a season ago.

So is this a game the 201617 Dukes, who finished 1022, would pull out?

“We were actually talking about that,” Lewis said. “I’ll keep it honest. Probably not.

“I don’t think we would have played hard enough as a whole. And I feel like we would have started pointing fingers there at the end and got away from each other.”

The Dukes will face San Francisco Friday in Las Vegas in the first game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic.