Dukes snap 3-game skid vs. La Salle
While Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot is hesitant to say that any one game is more important than another, the Dukes needed a win Sunday against La Salle.
With consecutive losses to Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Dayton, it had been since Jan. 15 — 18 days — that Duquesne had won.
And for much of the game, a ship-righting win seemed like an inevitability, like when the Dukes held a 12-point lead with six minutes left. But the Explorers’ press defense at the end of the game gave Duquesne enough trouble that La Salle crawled back into it.
With less than 30 seconds left, the Dukes lead had evaporated to just three points, and the Explores had the ball. After a missed shot and an offensive rebound, La Salle guard David Beatty ended up with it at the top of the key. Duquesne guard Sincere Carry tried to foul him on the floor with 1.1 seconds remaining, but he went too late,
and the referees deemed that Beatty was in the act of shooting, awarding him three free throws.
Beatty couldn’t finish the job, though, missing two of his free throws, and the Dukes (16-5, 6-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) escaped with a much-needed, 71-69 win.
“I thought we played pretty well for the most part, and then we just had a hard time at the end of the game,” Dambrot said. “Part of that is we only played seven guys, and part of it is we haven’t been in that situation much, and part of it is they’re scrappy. About everything that [could have] went wrong went wrong, and we were lucky to hold on. So you can view it as half-empty or half-full.”
Duquesne’s large lead was built with timely shots, including eight 3-pointers. Junior guard Tavian Dunn-Martin hit several important 3s, as did sophomore guard Lamar Norman Jr. The Dukes finished 34.8% from beyond the arc, which isn’t an especially high rate, but it’s an improvement for Duquesne, which has struggled to get things going from deep this season.
Beyond that, junior forward Marcus Weathers paced the scoring with 18, while Carry tied a career high with nine assists.
“Just moving the ball and making the extra pass,” Carry said. “We shared the ball well tonight, and everybody got to their spots.”
Things got chippy early in the game, when junior forward Michael Hughes got into an altercation after an attempted block. The trash-talking and physical play continued, and it came to a head in the second half, when Hughes picked up a technical foul for arguing a non-call. It was his second technical in the past three games, and he eventually fouled out in the waning minutes.
“I’d rather have a guy like him than some guy that’s a dead head out there all the time,” Dambrot said. “In some regards, it’s better. I don’t have to motivate him. He’s gonna go hard. He’s gonna try to block every shot around the rim. He’s gonna take pride in his performance. But at some point, if you keep doing the same things and getting the same results, you’ve got to figure it out.”
The first half was defined by what Duquesne accomplished on the defensive end. With 8:36 remaining, La Salle’s Ayinde Hikim converted a lay-in to make it 21-19. Over the next 5:25, the Explorers (10-11, 1-8) didn’t score another point, missing seven shots and two free throws while turning the ball over three times.
In the meantime, Duquesne went on an 8-0 run to open a 27-21 lead with 4:48 to go in the half.
The Dukes offense came from everywhere. Each player who got time in the first half scored. Weathers and Carry had seven each to lead the way, while Dunn-Martin and Norman Jr., had six a piece. All of that added up to a 36-29 Duquesne lead at the half.
While the game eventually became much tighter, the Dukes won’t necessarily care about that. All told, they needed a win, and they got it.
“We were super high on this win, just because we lost the three in a row,” Weathers said. “So just to come out and get this win and just fight hard, by any means, you know you’re gonna be happy at the end of the day.”
Mike Persak: mpersak@postgazette.com and Twitter @MikeDPersak.