Duquesne losing streak hits 8 with defeat at Dayton

Duquesne’s losing streak expanded to eight games Wednesday night with its second lopsided loss of the season to Dayton.

“They just have better players than we do,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said, clearly upset with another lackluster finish from his team.

Kobe Elvis scored 13 points, and Toumani Camara added 10 as the Flyers dominated the Dukes for a second time, 75-54, before 13,407 at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.

Dayton also defeated Duquesne, 72-52, on Jan. 15 at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

The Dukes haven’t won since Jan. 8, a 78-74 victory at Massachusetts.

“We’re just too small, and we don’t have enough playmaking abilities,” Dambrot said. “We died again. I’ve never seen a team die on the vine before as much as this team does. It’s ridiculous. It’s either a toughness issue, maybe a confidence issue. We played pretty good early on, and then …”

Dayton used a 13-2 run to turn a 19-18 deficit into a 31-21 lead with 3 minutes, 39 second left in the first half. Duquesne, which shot 53 % in the first 9 minutes, missed 7 of 8 shots during the Flyers’ run.

In the latest meeting, Dayton (16-8, 8-3 Atlantic 10) shot 60% (33 for 55) and made 7 of 13 3-point shots, including 3 of 4 by Elvis.

Tre Williams led Duquesne (6-15, 1-8) with 12 points. Jackie Johnson III added 11 and Primo Spears finished with 10 for the Dukes, who shot 40% (21 for 52) and were 6 for 16 from behind the arc.

Johnson III and Spears are freshman guards on a team that began the season ranked near the bottom of Division I in players returning.

The Dukes’ retooled roster features 10 first-year players. The team returned just 23.2% of its total minutes played from last season, fifth-lowest among Division I team.

But with the regular season heading down the home stretch, Dambrot said the Dukes haven’t responded.

“We haven’t progressed,” he said. “We need a couple of skilled guys in the backcourt — long, skilled guys — and we need a center. That would free up some of the others to play in their natural positions.”

Most notably, Dambrot was referring to the 6-foot-7 Williams, an Indiana State transfer, who has been manning the 5-spot, which Dambrot conceded has him out of position.

“Tre is more suited for the 4-spot,” he said.

Williams leads the Dukes with 47 blocked shots. He is averaging 10.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

Without 6-foot-10 Austin Rotroff and 6-7 R.J. Gunn Jr., both out with injuries, Duquesne’s roster is not only small, but it is short.

“We had guys that played hard tonight,” Dambrot said. “We need that effort from everyone. I’m going to keep working hard. I’m going to coach my (tail) off.”

Dayton poured it on to start the second half and enjoyed its largest lead of 30 points, 60-30, with 10:35 left.

With only a short time to rest, Duquesne will attempt to get back on track. The Dukes return to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse to face Fordham on Saturday afternoon (5:30 p.m.), hoping to end their long losing streak and avenge a last-second, 72-71 road loss to the Rams on Jan. 12, a game that kicked off the Dukes’ current skid.