Pittsburgh, Pa. – Guards
Dae Dae Grant (31) and
Jimmy Clark III (19) combined for 50 points to help the Duquesne University men's basketball team post a wire-to-wire victory over Saint Louis Tuesday night at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, 81-66. The Dukes, winners of seven of their last nine, improved to 16-10 (.615) overall during the 2023-24 season, including 6-7 (.462) in the Atlantic 10.
POINTS OF EMPHASIS
Duquesne jumped out to leads of 6-0 and 15-4 before Grant used a personal 10-0 run to expand the lead to 25-4 just seven-and-a-half minutes into the contest. The Billikens opened the contest by missing their first six shots from the floor and converted just 33.3 percent (10-for-30) overall in the first half, including a 2-of-13 performance (15.4%) from beyond the arc. A
dunk from Clark III after a steal would push the advantage to 32-14 before Saint Louis (9-17 / 2-11 A-10) used an 8-3 burst to whittle its deficit to 35-22, but Clark III converted a pair at the chalk and a dunk from forward
Dusan Mahorcic extended the lead for the Dukes to 39-22 en route to a 41-27 halftime advantage.
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"Saint Louis has had troubling defending, but they're hard to guard," head coach
Keith Dambrot said. "They have some serious pop with Jimerson, Sincere Parker and Hargrove. Every team in this league is capable. It's a battle every single night. We started 0-5 but we're 6-7 now. That's a miraculous comeback. We played some hard teams early and were a little snake bit. We still have some issues, but we're working on those things and trying to get better. We've done a really good job of not giving up threes, and I think that's been the key to our season really. Our three-line defense is one of the best in the league if not the best in the league."
LOCK DOWN PART DEUX
Entering the contest with three consecutive 30-point performances, Parker picked up two early fouls for Saint Louis but was contained as the Duquesne defense clamped down for the second consecutive game on the opposing team's leading scorer. Parker finished with just four points, hitting just one of his eight attempts from the floor, including an 0-for-3 performance from beyond the arc. Clark III drew the lead defensive assignment and in addition to his 19 points stuffed the stat sheet, tying a career high with six steals, grabbed four rebounds and dished out a game-high seven assists.
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"Big shouts out to Dave and Jimmy and
Tre Williams," Grant said. "Personally I think they affected the game by being in those gaps and passing lanes and being there for one another. I think our talk also displayed and showed a very connected level on the defensive end because we were getting stops, steals and deflections. We have somewhat of a rhythm, but we can't look back because we know there are other great teams in this league that can win any game on any given night."
THE EARLY BURST
Williams helped the Dukes get off to a good start offensively, converting each of the first three field goals of the game for Duquesne en route to his first double-figure scoring game of the year with 10 points. He also grabbed six rebounds, three of which were of the offensive variety, and became the 11th different member of the Dukes to score at least 10 points this season as well as the second in as many games. Williams finished 5-for-8 from the floor and is just five points shy of reaching 1,000 career points for his NCAA Division I career.
WISH GRANTED
Grant eclipsed the 30-point plateau for the third time this season in scoring a game-high 31 and now is the last Duquesne student-athlete to own a 30-point scoring effort at home, on the road (
URI) and on a neutral court (
vs. Santa Clara in Las Vegas, Nev.). In knocking down each of his five opportunities at the free-throw line, Grant has now converted 36 consecutive at the stripe over his last 10 games. He also eclipsed 900 career points (910) with the Dukes and to cap the night offensively found an open
Jake DiMichele for a layup on a drive in the paint with 1:48 remaining that gave the Dukes an 80-62 lead. DiMichele, meanwhile, grabbed a career-high nine rebounds for the second consecutive game, just missing his first career double-double by contributing 11 points as well as three assists.
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"Dae Dae is one of the most unique guys that I've ever been around," Dambrot said. "He has unbelievable relationships with everybody on the team regardless of their stature. He's got this knack of just being nice to everybody. Not everybody is like that. It speaks to what he's all about. He just wants to win."
UP NEXT
Duquesne travels to the Bronx, N.Y., in search of its third consecutive win when it takes on Fordham at Rose Hill Gym in an 8:30 p.m. tip that can be seen live on ESPN2.
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