Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University men's basketball team continued a three-game homestand at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse Wednesday, dropping a 70-67 decision to Princeton. The Dukes slipped to 3-1 (.750) overall during the 2023-24 season with the setback.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS
Senior guard
Dae Dae Grant buried a pair of free throws with 1:16 remaining to pull Duquesne to within 68-67, setting up a frantic final minute of regulation. The Dukes forced Princeton (3-0) into a violation of the shot clock with 46 seconds left, but out of the timeout Xaivian Lee forced a turnover by senior
Jimmy Clark III, coming up with a steal, after a jump ball situation. Out of a timeout by the Tigers, Clark III came up with a theft of his own, picking the pocket of Caden Pierce with just over 10 seconds to play. Duquesne came down the court with Clark III feeding
Fousseyni Drame on the low block, but his floater was off the mark. Lee would seal the victory with 0.4 ticks left with a pair of free throws.
QUOTABLE
"Our guys hung around and hung around and gave themselves a good chance to win," head coach
Keith Dambrot said. "It's a tough team to play early in the year. We have to guard the ball a little bit better, but overall we had more offensive problems than defensive problems. Just didn't quite have it. We didn't have great energy. We didn't play much bench, which probably hurt us some."
SEESAW
The Tigers jumped out to an early 9-4 lead before a 13-6 burst helped the Dukes grab 17-15 edge. Drame and Grant each scored four points, while freshman
Jakub Necas buried a three-pointer before Clark III put Duquesne on top with a floater. Princeton answered by scoring the next 10 points of the game to open up a 25-17 advantage, setting up the back-and-forth nature of the opening 20 minutes. The next nine points of the contest came from the Dukes, with
Kareem Rozier and
Andrei Savrasov connecting for triples, while Grant hit a trio at the stripe after being fouled beyond the arc.
BIG SHOTS
Princeton owned a 37-31 lead at halftime and was able to keep Duquesne at bay in the second half with some timely shooting. Clark III drove the lane to convert to pull the Dukes to within 44-41, but Zach Martini sprung open to hit a three-pointer from the wing to answer. Matt Allocco, who scored a game-high 23 points on 10-of-13 shooting, also connected for a triple that gave the Tigers a 50-43 lead with 14:10 to play. His second three-pointer of the game came with 5:56 left and gave Princeton a 63-56 cushion before a 6-0 surge that was capped by a driving layup from Drame closed the deficit to 63-62 as the Dukes tightened the defensive pressure in the closing minutes.
QUOTABLE
"We forced 16 turnovers from a team that really doesn't turn the ball over that much," Dambrot said. "You can look at it a couple different ways. They're shooting percentage was really good, and they made some tough ones. Made some open threes. Every time we came back they hit a big three. We knew it was going to be a dog fight. We made a couple really good defensive plays at the end, but we just didn't make the shot when we needed it. They're hard to play from behind on because you have to have tremendous discipline. If we make that shot at the end we're all happy."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Clark III paced Duquesne with 17 points and also recorded three assists and four steals, while Grant added 16 for the Dukes. Drame added eight points, while
David Dixon rejected three shots on the night and now owns 31 blocks in 31 career games. In addition to the 23 points from Allocco, Lee added 20 for the Tigers, who shot 54 percent (27-for-50) from the field and 90 percent (9-for-10) at the free-throw line.
QUOTABLE
"We turned the ball over a lot on the inside," Rozier said. "We turned the ball over a lot in transition. We just have to be better in that area and be ready to shoot the ball when it comes out. What's crazy is we turned the ball over like we turned the ball over but we're still in the game and still had a chance to win. It's unfortunate. We'll come back ready tomorrow. We have a big game Friday. It hurts, but we have a team full of guys that are older. Mature guys. We have 27 more opportunities for games like that, and we'll be ready."
UP NEXT
Duquesne closes out a three-game homestand by welcoming Rider to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse Friday, Nov. 17, for a 7:00 p.m. tip. It marks the second game of the Cornhusker Classic for the Dukes, who opened the tournament Monday with an 85-63 win over Stony Brook.
FOLLOW THE DUKES
For the latest news and information on Duquesne men's basketball, follow the Dukes on Twitter (X) and Instagram.
