Duquesne MBB Falls To 0-4 With Home Loss

Duquesne fell to 0-4 on the season, dropping a 80-74 contest to Milwaukee Tuesday night at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Jake DiMichele led Duquesne with career highs of 21 points and nine field goals made, with 19 of those points coming in the second half. Tre Dinkins III had his best game in a Dukes uniform with 20 points.

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Duquesne won the bench battle 39-13.

Milwaukee (2-2) was paced by Kentrell Pullian’s 22 points, and he grabbed seven rebounds. Themus Fulks earned 15 points and drew seven fouls. Jamichael Stillwell achieved a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. John Lovelace also contributed 11 points.

The Panthers won the rebounding battle 38-33, making timely grabs in crucial moments.

Milwaukee had a successful start to this contest, firing at a 71.4% clip and it took nearly five minutes before it had an empty possession.

When the Panthers were not making shots, it was grabbing rebounds, frequently getting into the right position.

Duquesne’s offensive continuity early came with a Maximus Edwards and-one play and Jahsean Corbett had an opportunity for the same.

The and-one play was good to the Dukes in the first half, allowing it to overcome a 35.7% shooting clip for much of the period.

Matus Hronsky subbed in, playing nearly 11 minutes in the first half, and was the lone Dukes player with a positive +/- in the stanza. He defensively caused miscues and offensively took shots within rhythm and made the extra pass.

Offensively, Duquesne multiple time passed up open high-percentage post looks with clear height advantages, which led to turnovers and a long court on the defensive end.

Late in the first half, the Dukes had a rotation of five returning players, which in 1:35 was outscored 5-2 and was a transition away from being two further behind.

Milwaukee closed the first half on a 13-4 run, taking a 37-28 advantage into the locker room.

Duquesne came out with a more focused effort in the second half, causing an early timeout. This allowed the Dukes to adjust to a more hectic defense. David Dixon was able to grab a steal, and Duquesne went on the attack, with multiple players crashing the glass.

The Dukes got to within five points, before Milwaukee responded. Duquesne had the ball stick offensively leading to the Panthers grabbing a double-digit advantage.

Duquesne went back to the drawing board, beginning with DiMichele’s jumper. On consecutive possessions, DiMichele converted a three-point shot, Dinkins converted a stepback jumper and DiMichele found Eli Wilborn for an open dunk.

This got the Dukes to within four points as Milwaukee spent its third timeout of the contest.

Duquesne drew to within a point after DiMichele once again found Wilborn and then called his own number.

It would once again not be able to get over the hump as Milwaukee did enough to stay in front.

As the Panthers clung to a two-point advantage, they went on a 10-0 run which culminated in a step back three-point shot and another triple off a second chance rebound.

Duquesne drew to within seven points at the final media timeout, with a few seconds remaining on a Milwaukee offensive possession. The Panthers came out of the stoppage as Pullian drilled a three-point shot.

The Dukes trailed by 12 points, but continued to battle down the stretch, and cut the deficit to three, but had to play the foul game. Milwaukee buried its free throws, securing victory.

Each of Duquesne’s next three games are part of the Cayman Islands Classic at the John Gray Gymnasium in Georgetown Grand Cayman. The first transpires Sunday against South Dakota State with a 1:30 p.m. tip.

POSTGAME VIDEOS