Duquesne Basketball
Duquesne Bows Out in First Round of CBI
By NICK LORENSEN
DAYTONA BEACH — Duquesne officially ended its storybook season on Sunday afternoon, falling to Rice in the College Basketball Invitational by a score of 84-76.
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The Dukes went from last place of the A10 to the top in one of the best turnarounds in program history. It was also their first postseason appearance since making the 2016 edition of the CBI.
“We took a step up, there’s no doubt,” Dambrot said postgame. “The next time we have an opportunity, we’ll be a little bit more prepared for it.”
It was a slow start for Duquesne, but they caught stride out of the first media timeout with an 8-0 run.
Rice would continue fighting back like they did all game, taking a 13-point lead in the final minutes of the first half. That was when Duquesne went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead back down to three just before break.
A lot of the work done in the first half was through Dae Dae Grant who entered halftime with 18 points off four made three-pointers. He ultimately matched his career high for points at 28 on the day.
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“I’m proud of Dae Dae, he’s been a good leader all year. I think his play jumped from when he was at Miami,” said Dambrot. “I think he can get stronger; I think he’ll get better in a lot of different areas. But he tried to do what we asked on a consistent basis.”
Duquesne continued its string of good offense into the second half, scoring five straight points. That’s when the offense on both sides seemed to become unstoppable though.
After a Rice foul spell, the Dukes tied it up at the second media timeout of the second half. At the third, Duquesne trailed by three and then its offense went silent after the huge spurt.
The Dukes went on a field goal drought of 4:50, allowing Rice to stretch its lead out to four. Duquesne then turned the ball over on consecutive possessions out of the final media timeout and that’s when the game seemed to end, and the Owls stretched their lead out to double digits.
“I think we competed, that was the best thing we did. We tried to win, we tried to give our best effort. Obviously, disappointed with how we played the last three games,” said Dambrot. “Just something we’re going to need to analyze, understand, see why.”
Dambrot finished his sixth season at Duquesne with a 20-13 record.
