Duquesne Earns Decisive 96-71 Victory Over SCSU

The Duquesne Men’s Basketball Team led wire to wire as it returned to the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse as 96-71 winners over South Carolina State Monday night.

Duquesne (2-1) saw two scorers achieve double-figure point totals in Dae Dae Grant (14) and Tre Clark (13). Grant also had a team-high six assists and Clark was a perfect six-for-six from the field. Austin Rotroff set a career high with his 11 rebounds in the victory.

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All Duquesne players each scored, 13 grabbed a rebound and10 earned at least one assist on the evening.

Duquesne Dukes guard Dae Dae Grant (3) November 14, 2022 David Hague/PSN

South Carolina State (0-3) was paced by DaJuan Bates’s 14 points. Davion Everett had 13 points and nine rebounds and Raquan Brown (12) and Jordan Simpson (11) rounded out the double-figure scorers.

Joe Reece got in early foul trouble for Duquesne, committing two fouls within 24 seconds, the second of which coach Keith Dambrot tried to plead to refereed Tom Clougherty, but to no avail.

Dambrot opted to go with David Dixon as the first post player off of the bench and was rewarded, when the Memphis native following a Quincy McGriff miss in transition with a rebound and loud dunk.

As was the case against Kentucky, Clark paced Duquesne as he sank his first four shots in the first half, including an open three-point basket, coming out of the under-16 media timeout.

With Tevin Brewer back and closer to full strength, Duquesne showed more cohesiveness on the offensive end as evidenced by its six assists on seven made baskets which translated into 12 of 18 first-half makes, when a season ago, 12 assists was commonplace for an entire game.

Duquesne Dukes guard Tevin Brewer (0) November 14, 2022 David Hague/PSN

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Grant scored 11 first-half points, feasting on transition opportunities and also drawing four fouls in the opening half. He was a +21 over his 15 minutes in the first half and concluded play at +28.

Rotroff meanwhile was a ball magnet amassing 10 rebounds in the opening half, with his last board setting the aforementioned career high. That rebound transitioned into R.J. Gunn’s second three-point basket of the game.

The 10 rebounds, eclipse his previous high of nine, set Dec. 11 against New Hampshire.

Duquesne did have a defensive slip in the first half when it repeated allowed South Carolina State to crash the boards, weaving at times through multiple Dukes for easy scores.

Even so, Duquesne led 50-29 at halftime, firing at a 47.4% clip from the field and 53.8% when it came to three-point range.

Duquesne Dukes forward Austin Rotroff (34) November 14, 2022 David Hague/PSN

Dambrot made one switch going into the second half as McGriff, who started the game, did not do the same in the second half. Dambrot appeared visibly frustrated by multiple mistakes made and he sat for the remainder of the first half.

The Dukes started the second half converting five of its first seven shots from the field and it was smooth sailing from there as the team emptied its bench.

Duquesne will next play Friday against Colgate at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School as the Dukes will once again return to Akron. That game is slated for a 6 p.m. tip.