Dae Dae Grant’s 31 Points Leads Duquesne to 4th Straight Win

Duquesne basketball dominated Rhode Island throughout their game Saturday afternoon, leading to their first Atlantic-10 road win of the season, 85-71.

The win for the Dukes (13-8 overall, 3-5 Atlantic-10) is their fourth straight, as they won the past three games at home against rivals in St. Bonaventure last Tuesday on Jan. 23, Fordham last Saturday on Jan. 27 and Chicago State on Wednesday. The victory against the Rams (10-12 overall, 4-5 Atlantic-10) is the second straight, as the Dukes won at home last year. It is also the first win in Kingston, R.I. for the Dukes since 2014, the first back-t0-back wins in the series since 2021 and the just the second road win of the season as they defeated the Marshall Thundering Herd on Dec. 6.

Rhode Island began the game the better of the two teams, taking a 16-7 lead in the first six minutes of the game. Junior guard Jaden House scored seven points on a 3-pointer and two layups to lead Rhode Island with seven points, while fellow junior in forward David Green made a shot form behind the arc and a layup to combine for 12 of the 16 points.

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The Dukes, who turned the ball over six times in the first six and half minutes, managed to turn it around in their favor, outscoring the Rams 17-6 over a five minute period to earn a 23-22 advantage with 7:32 remaining in the first half.

Dukes senior guard Dae Dae Grant, who started his first game since Dayton at home on Jan. 12 after recovering from concussion symptoms, excelled during the run, hitting three 3-pointers.

Duquesne basketball continued to excel from 3-point range with guards in first-year/walk-on Jake DiMichele and sophomore Kareem Rozier and senior forward Tre Williams hitting from behind the arc.

Grant would end up with 15 points to lead the Dukes, shooting 4-for-8 from the floor, 3-for-7 from 3-point range and a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line.

Duquesne dominated to start the second half, using an 18-8 run to build up their lead to 20 points, 59-39, with 13:20 remaining. Grant continued to hit from behind the arc, making three 3-pointers during the run.

The Rams wouldn’t quit and outscored the Dukes 14-4 to cut the lead back to just 10 points at 63-53, forcing Dukes head coach Keith Dambrot to call a timeout.

They would trim the deficit to eight points, with eight minutes remaining, but the Dukes got into good rhythm offensively, with a 9-2 run that put them up 75-60 with four and half minutes left in the game, effectively sealing their victory. Graduate student forward Fousseyni Drame hit a 3-pointer and had a dunk to give them momentum back to the road team.

Grant reached 2000 points in his career in this game and dominated the Rams in this one, scoring 31 points on 9-for-18 shooting from the field, 7-for-14 from 3-point range and a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line.

Duquesne basketball shot 14-for-27 as a team from 3-point range, a season high in not just makes, but also with 51.9% shooting. They also made 28 of their 53 attempts from the field for a season best mark of 52.8% shooting. Their 15-for-17, 88.2% from the foul line ranks tied second best free throw shooting in a game this season for Duquesne, with Nebraska on the road in November.

Senior guard Jimmy Clark III and Grant both had five assists and the Dukes themselves made 20 in the game, the best against a Division I team this season.

Duquesne basketball will come back home for a match against Davidson next Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 7:00 p.m.