Austin Hansen | staff writer

Last Saturday, Duquesne men’s basketball fell to Dayton in a 77-76 thriller, in a game where the Dukes were looking to improve to .500 in Atlantic 10 Conference play, a feat that only five teams in the A-10 have been able to accomplish to this point. Duquesne’s trips to Dayton have not favored the Dukes, as they have not come away with a victory at UD Arena since 2012. This game was more of the same, but it was particularly deflating.

With less than a minute remaining, Duquesne trailed by 4, yet were able to come back. It came down to Dayton getting a final shot before what seemed to be overtime, but an accidental foul from Cam Crawford with six seconds left sent Dayton’s Malachi Smith to the line, where he would seal the game with a free throw. Tre Dinkins III would ultimately miss the game-winning 3-pointer.

“It’s a tough one,” Duquesne Head Coach Dru Joyce III said. “I know my guys and my team are always going to step up to the challenge. It was just an unfortunate ending.”

The Dukes’ Achilles heel in the game was their turnovers, as they were outnumbered 14-10 in the category. Those turnovers were costly, as Dayton scored 23 points off them to Duquesne’s 6.

Duquesne had the an 18-14 advantage at the first media break, led by Matúš Hronský’s 11 points including three 3-pointers, he ended the contest with a career high of 16 points. This momentum carried, as the half was all Duquesne. It led by 12 at one point, but only finished the half up 4.

Issues arose after Duquesne’s 12 point advantage, as costly turnovers and poor shooting from the free-throw line troubled the Dukes’ attempts at pulling away from the Flyers. Duquesne finished 14-for-22 from the stripe.

Leading the scoring for Duquesne was Dinkins with 21 points. He along with two other Dukes, Jakub Necas and Kareem Rozier, finished the game with three assists.

Moving on from the Ohio disaster, the Dukes found the win column again at Cooper Fieldhouse against Fordham. In a contest against the worst A-10 team and without Necas, who was out due to injury, the Dukes rallied and won 73-64, improving to 6-7 in conference.

Five Dukes reached double-digit point totals: Dinkins, Crawford, Jahsean Corbett, Eli Wilborn and David Dixon. Duquesne forced 18 turnovers and shot an uncharacteristic 21 of 26 from the line. It was a hopeful sight for the Dukes and their fans in the final push before the A-10 tournament.

An energizing performance from Wilborn was highlighted by Joyce postgame.

“I think that game and being in the interior was catered to [Wilborn].” Joyce said. “He was able to show his strength and we got him some good touches around the basket.”

That strength was shown in the paint on the offensive side of the ball, with his six offensive rebounds.

Fordham jumped to the early advantage. Japhet Medor and Jackie Johnson III led the way for Fordham scoring the first 12 of its points, each capitalizing on three-pointers of their own. Johnson, who entered the game 44th in points-per-game in Division I, would be the game’s leading scorer with 20, including going 2-for-3 from 3-point range.

Dixon gave the Dukes a spark off the bench, scoring 6 quickly which included two Hronský assists in the pick and roll. Hronský would wind up with seven assists, his career high. He attributed his assists to others.

“I’ll give it to Dave and Eli and everybody who was setting good screens,” Hronský said. “Actually, it was pretty simple to throw those passes.”

Tied at 31 out of the break, Duquesne looked to find themselves on the unfamiliar positive end of a close matchup, Joyce’s squad got to the paint and made its free throws.

Paint touches were stressed by Joyce in his post game presser.

“I think getting drives, getting post touches has always led to good basketball for us,” Joyce said. “It generates a lot of good ball movement and good shot opportunities for us.”

The Dukes pulled away in the second half, never surrendering the lead. The nail in the coffin came from a Dixon block and assist to Crawford. Dixon had four blocks, his second-highest total this season. Additionally, he finished on the scoring end of three alley-oop dunks to make up 6 of his Duquesne-high 14 points.

With the conference tournament in a few weeks, a lot remains on the table.

“I still believe that even at our current record now, we’re still one of the best teams in the country,” Dixon said.

Impactful byes are still available in a jam packed A-10 table, and stringing together games similar to the win over Fordham will be important as the Dukes hit the road for two games, one at St. Bonaventure Saturday afternoon and the other at La Salle Wednesday night.