Duquesne shakes off slow start, holds off American in home return

Duquesne’s growing pains continued Sunday in the team’s first basketball game since returning last week from a 1-2 showing at the Paradise Jam tournament.

What’s encouraging, at least, for the fresh-faced Dukes is the final result.

Mercer transfer Leon Ayers III tied his season-high with 23 points and freshman Primo Spears scored a career-high 21 as Duquesne’s work-in-progress lineup turned up the defensive pressure in the second half to pull away for an 88-79 victory over American at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

“Offensively, we’re getting better,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said. “It’s been an adjustment to try to find the style that fits our game. That might mean more zone defense because we didn’t guard that well. We’ve got to do whatever we’ve got to do for this particular team to win games.”

Dambrot shortened his bench a bit, playing just eight, something else that the veteran coach doesn’t prefer to do.

“It’s going to be a work-in-progress with our guys,” he said. “And it’s a work-in-progress for me because I have to change the way I think to coach these guys to their strengths and get away from what I really like to do and just coach them for what’s good for them.”

Duquesne (3-4) led for a total of just over 2 minutes in the first half, but Spears sank a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to put the Dukes ahead for good, 38-37, at the break.

Spears, a 6-foot-3 former all-state point guard from Hartford, Conn., registered six steals, one shy of a Duquesne single-game record.

Kevin Easley Jr. added 14 points and Tre Williams had 13 for the Dukes, who remain at home to face Bowling Green on Wednesday before visiting Marshall on Saturday.

“Hats off to American,” Dambrot said. “We did a good job of covering their back cuts, which they crush people on. We were prepared for that, but they drove it up our behinds. In fairness to them, they did a good job. It was a poor defensive effort for us.”

The Dukes fought all afternoon to break loose from the Eagles, who came in having lost three of their previous four games by at least 22 points, including a 98-67 decision Tuesday at UMBC, which is in its first season under former Duquesne coach Jim Ferry.

Ferry’s Retrievers then came to Pittsburgh on Saturday and upended Pitt at Petersen Events Center.

“The chemistry part of it is big. We’re just trying to get a feel for each other,” Spears said “Early, everybody is trying to create their own shots. We’ve just got to keep moving. This start was better than (most of) the other starts we’ve had. As we go along and get a better feel for each other, I think our starts are going to get better.”

Duquesne finally gained control and pushed its lead to double digits (63-53) with 8 minutes, 22 seconds left on Austin Rotroff’s basket on a slick feed from Spears.

American (2-5), picked in a preseason poll to finish fifth in the 10-team Patriot League, got within 69-63 following Duquesne’s surge but couldn’t come all the way back.

Colin Smalls led Amercian with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting. Stacy Beckton Jr. added 17 and Matt Rogers scored 12.

Duquesne pushed the lead back to double digits (75-65) and held on down the stretch by converting free throws, including six in a row by Ayers III and four consecutive by Spears.

The Dukes shot 78.8% (26 for 33) from the foul line.

“We started moving it and getting the ball to the opposite side of the court and attacking the rim. It was open all night,” said Ayers, who was perfect in eight free-throw attempts. “We were trying to take advantage of that and not rely on our 3-pointers so much, like we’ve been doing.”

For Duquesne, it was a welcome sight to return home, despite losing two of its first three games at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse before Sunday.

The Dukes finished with a season-high shooting percentage at their new building, sinking 29 of 50 attempts for 58.0%, the second-highest percentage under Dambrot in his five years on the Dukes’ bench.

“I feel like we learned today that we have great pieces,” Spears said. “Four people in double figures. Our feel for the game is changing.”

Duquesne had been idled for nearly a week after its 78-70 victory over Bradley that avoided a winless trip to the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and against American, it showed at the start.

“We’re just a new group, so we’re going to get better every game,” Spears said. “That’s what we saw today and against Bradley in the Virgin Islands. We’re just trying to build on it, keep the chemistry flowing, and we’ll see where it goes.”

At the Paradise Jam, the Dukes started off the tournament with defeats to Northeastern in what Dambrot felt was an uninspired effort following the long trip and Colorado in a game that Duquesne controlled for nearly the entire time before giving up the lead at the regulation buzzer and losing in overtime.

Their return to a court in the United States started slowly Sunday, a trend that Dambrot is hoping his team can break.

“If you look at the teams in that tournament,” he said, “they came back and (the ones that have played since) sputtered around in the first half of every game.”

He was referring mainly to games Friday and Saturday involving Southern Illinois trailing for long periods before recovering to beat Alcorn State, 62-59; Colorado State outlasting Northern Colorado, 88-79; Northeastern losing to Harvard, 77-57; Creighton edging SIU-Edwardsville, 70-65; and Bradley falling behind early in a 71-39 victory over Maine.

“It’s because it’s a long trip,” Dambrot said. “I knew it was going to happen to us, but I still didn’t like how we sputtered around in the beginning. We didn’t have much juice.”

In the end, though, the Dukes evened their home-court record this season to 2-2 and kept their undefeated mark intact in 11 home games against American.

Dambrot continued to emphasize the importance of having a healthy R.J. Gunn Jr. available. The 6-7, 240-pound Gunn Jr., a Division II transfer, who has appeared in just one game, has been slow to recover from a high ankle sprain sustained in the preseason.

“It really hurts us because we’re playing these guys on fumes,” Dambrot said. “We’re like a high school team, size-wise, and compared to what I’m used to. Rotroff’s situation hurts us, too, because he’s not really healthy yet, either.”

The 6-10 Rotroff, who has been battling knee problems throughout his career and is continuing to strengthen following offseason surgery, played 10 minutes against American and had 4 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal in relief of the 6-7 Williams, who shot 5 for 8 and grabbed just two rebounds in 29 minutes.

“We’re changing nothing at the rim,” Dambrot said. “I don’t think Tre had it it today.”