Duquesne Falters Late Against Rival No. 16 Dayton on the Road, 75-59

Duquesne started off with a big lead and led late on against No. 16 Dayton, but a poor late offensive showing and bad fouls given away led to a 75-59 defeat on the road Tuesday night.

The Dukes (14-10 overall, 4-7 Atlantic 10) lose their first road game since a 71-69 loss to their rival in the Saint Joseph’s Hawks on Jan. 20. This also makes it two losses to the Flyers (20-4 overall, 10-2 Atlantic-10) this season, as they lost 72-62 at home on Jan. 12. It also makes it four straight wins for the Flyers in the series, with the last win for the Dukes coming in February 2021. It also drops the Dukes to 2-11 against the Flyers since head coach Keith Dambrot took over in 2017.

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Duquesne began the game with a 9-2 run, with graduate student forward Dusan Mahorcic leading the way with four points on two baskets in the paint. They would continue to increase that lead to 22-11 midway through the first half, with sophomore forward David Dixon scoring three buckets down low to force a Dayton timeout.

The Flyers would respond with a 13-2 run over the next three and a half minutes to tie the game at 24, with six different scorers contributing.

The two teams more or less traded baskets the rest of the first half, with Dayton leading 36-33. Pitt transfer and junior forward Nate Santos led the home team with five points on a 3-pointer and two free throws, while senior guard Jimmy Clark III led the Dukes with five points on a 3-pointer and a layup at the buzzer.

The Flyers built a six-point lead to start the second half, but the Dukes battled back and kept it close, before taking the lead, 55-53, with less than eight minutes remaining.

Senior guard Dae Dae Grant finally found his groove offensively, scoring nine points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field, including a 3-pointer. First-year guard Jake DiMichele and graduate student forward Fousseyni Drame also provided makes from behind the arc to give the Dukes the lead.

A layup from Clark gave Duquesne a 57-53 lead with 6:39 left, but Dayton soon started to get on a run, thanks to a number of fouls that Duquesne committed.

Dayton scored nine straight points from the foul line, with RMU transfer and junior guard Enoch Cheeks making four and Santos making three, to give themselves a 62-57 lead.

The Flyers would continue that run to 22-2 to finish of the game, a span of 6:17 for the home team as they stayed unbeaten at home, 12-0 on the season. Junior guard Koby Brea added two 3-pointers late on to help the Flyers end up with a convincing scoreline.

The Dukes shot 1-for-9 and turned it over four times during their scoreless run, dooming them to another loss to the Flyers on the road, 6-38 all-time in southwestern Ohio.

Duquesne will come back home to face St. Joe’s on Saturday at 2:00 p.m., looking to get at least one win in the series this season.