Dukes rally but come up short at Richmond, 79-72

ALTOONA, Pa. -- After a 17-day layoff, Duquesne finally laced it up on the hardwood, albeit in a 79-72 loss to Richmond Saturday afternoon at the Robins Center in Richmond, Va. The loss puts the Dukes at 7-7 overall and 6-6 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

After taking a 2-0 lead to start the game, the Dukes' next lead came with 6:59 left in the second half. Duquesne had been down 15 in the first half and even down 14 points with 17:19 left in the game as the Dukes fought and clawed back to retake the lead before subsequently surrendering the lead for good with under two minutes left to play.

"We were right there to win, I felt like we were going to win the game," Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said following the game. 

It was a rough start for the Dukes and understandably, with their layoff, and it wasn't until the second half until the Dukes finally opened up and got comfortable on the court again.

"There hasn't been a team around America that's been very good after the pause for the most part. I'd say 90 percent of them haven't been good," Dambrot said. "I was impressed with our competitiveness. We could have folded the tent when things went poorly for us, but we got our emotions under control at halftime."

The spark came by way of senior center Michael Hughes who was hurt early in the second half. The injury came when Marcus Weathers fell on the ankle of Hughes underneath the basket. Hughes reentered the game later in the second half and it was exactly what Duquesne needed.

"We have a much better chance to win if Hughes is in there versus when Hughes isn't in there," Dambrot said. "I'm sure our guys felt a little better, I know I did. I knew he was going to come back in. I don't know why, but I know him. I've been around him for five years now. He'd have to be near-dead not to play. That's just the way that guy is."

Despite the ankle injury, Hughes paced the Dukes with 20 points, nine rebounds and four steals while Weathers chipped in 12 points and nine boards while dealing with foul trouble most of the second half. Andre Harris added a career-high 10 points in 20 minutes off the bench.

"Mike's the most under-appreciated player in this league," Dambrot said. "People can say whatever they want, they may not like the way he acts or his emotion, but he's a winning guy. I think any team in this league would like to have him on their team."

Hughes' performance came as no surprise to Dambrot who loves the fire his starting center brings to the court with him each day.

"It doesn't surprise me. He's been really competitive. He's been a good teammate. He always plays the right way," Dambrot said. 

It's been a long month of February for the Dukes as they've been unable to play since christening their brand new UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse with a victory over Dayton on Feb. 2nd. Since then, Duquesne had three games postponed as a result of COVID-19 issues both within the team and its opponents.

Early on against the Spiders, it looked every bit like the Dukes had been off for over two weeks as they struggled early before ending the half on 12-5 run to cut the lead to seven. Chad Baker paced Duquesne with nine points while Tavian Dunn-Martin chipped in eight points to help keep Richmond within striking distance to start the second half. 

The early rust coupled with Richmond shooting a lights-out 65 percent from the field in the first half led to the Duquesne struggles early on as the Dukes struggled to defend the Princeton-style offense Richmond deployed.

"We made too many mistakes early," Dambrot said. "We went into the game just making sure we didn't give up layups, threes and free throws and we didn't do a great job with those three. We knew the twos weren't going to beat us but you can't give up layups against them."

It might not have been the win Dambrot and his team needed out of the break, but despite that it gives the Dukes an opportunity for growth moving forward especially knowing that despite a less that stellar start, they were still able to compete for the win at the end of the game.

"I'm too competitive to ever be pleased with a loss, but by the same token you have to be a realist and had we not made as many defensive mistakes as we did, I felt like we win by 10," Dambrot said. "We knew what we had to do. We didn't do a good job of it in the first half. The second half we did a much better job. We almost had the score right down where we needed it."

• While Duquesne might not have won the basketball game, the big victory of the game came from guard Maceo Austin who played in his first game since Jan. 5th after dealing with mental health concerns. 

Austin didn't record any points but hauled in a rebound and played 20 minutes which bodes well for both him and the Dukes moving forward as Duquesne gears up for the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

• The Dukes will return to the court Wednesday for a conference matchup against La Salle before hosting Rhode Island next Saturday for only the second game ever at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The added game to the schedule gives Duquesne an opportunity to have continuity, which is something the Dukes haven't had much as they've lost nearly two months due to postponed games or COVID-19 issues within the program.

"The better shape we get in, the better we play, the better our big guys are," Dambrot said. "I think the games help us. We need to win some going in (to the Atlantic 10 tournament), we don't want to go in not winning."

With Duquesne finally able to play and back to their physical brand of basketball at that, Atlantic 10 teams are not looking forward to playing the Dukes and it's sure to make an entertaining conference tournament.

"Most of the teams in the league don't want to play us, most of the good teams," Dambrot said. "We're tough on it, we're strong as heck. We're one of the strongest teams in the league other than Saint Louis. You have to be prepared for a wrestling match when you play us."