Cold-shooting Duquesne drops 2nd in row as Fordham rallies to win

Perhaps a new voice is needed in the Duquesne men’s basketball camp — temporarily, at least — after two sluggish offensive showings have led to a pair of losses and derailed the Dukes’ surprising, early-season momentum.

Following the latest setback — Saturday’s 65-58 decision to Fordham at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse — Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot brought with him freshman guard Kareem Rozier to his usual postgame gathering with the media.

“I’ll talk in front of Kareem,” Dambrot said. “Kareem is like a coach.”

Rozier, Duquesne’s backup point guard, sat with his head down before tilting a microphone his way and accepting as much responsibility as anyone for the Dukes’ latest woes.

“Coach is the coach of the team,” Rozier said, glancing at Dambrot, “but he has put unbelievable trust in me to be able to have a voice and do those things. So I’m going to take a hit on it, too. I’ve just got to get those guys ready to play better as a whole. That’s on me, too.”

Since coming to Duquesne this season after being selected as one of five finalists for Michigan’s prestigious Hal Schram Mr. Basketball Award while at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s High School, Rozier has been lauded for his motivational skill and a knack to promote team unity.

“It starts in practice,” said Rozier, who has amassed 43 assists with only 13 turnovers while averaging nearly 18 minutes per game. “I’ve got to have a bigger voice in practice, and it starts (Sunday). Just hearing it from the coach is not getting through right now, so I’m going to step up with the voice.”

Dambrot, nodding in agreement, added: “Ultimately, they have to fix it, but we (coaches) have to help them fix it.”

With nonconference schedules fading in the rearview mirror, college basketball’s conference grind has shifted into high gear with an eye toward the postseason. In the case of Duquesne, a slow burn more accurately might describe the developing scenario.

In their latest venture against Fordham, the Dukes’ offense continued to sputter three days after finishing with its second-lowest scoring output (56) in a nine-point loss at St. Bonaventure.

Khalid Moore scored 19 points, and Fordham used a late 15-0 run to pull away as Duquesne (13-7, 3-4) posted its second-worst shooting performance (30.6%) of the season, losing its second game in a row and third in the past four after winning 12 of its first 16.

Darius Quisenberry added 14 points, and Antrell Charlton finished with 10 for Fordham (15-4, 3-3).

Dae Dae Grant led Duquesne with 10 points despite shooting just 3 for 12 and after going without a field goal in the Dukes’ 65-56 loss to St. Bonaventure on Wednesday.

“We played two rotten games, and we paid the price for it,” Dambrot said. “Emotionally, we’ve got to get our head out of our (behind) and play better than that.”

The Dukes waited until Grant’s long shot from the right wing at the first-half buzzer for their first made 3-pointer. It gave Duquesne a 25-23 lead after having trailed for much of the time.

“We played good defense in the first half, but we struggled all night offensively,” Dambrot said. “They switched and gimmicked it up with (different zones). They basically just disrespected our guys. When they switched, your little guys have to go around their bigs, or your bigs have to score on their littles. We did neither.”

Duquesne started the second half on a 6-0 run to expand the lead to 31-23 and stayed in control — barely — until Fordham went in front, 57-48, scoring 15 unanswered points, including consecutive 3-point shots by Charlton, Quisenberry and Moore.

Grant finally stopped the surging Rams’ momentum with just Duquesne’s second 3-pointer of the contest (both by him). But Fordham held on despite Rozier stealing the ball and feeding Grant, who misfired on a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left and the Dukes’ trailing by six points.

Grant wound up converting two of Duquesne’s season-low three 3-pointers in 16 attempts. Overall, the Dukes made just 19 of 62 field goal attempts.

“I don’t know how many games you’re going to win shooting 19 for 62,” Dambrot said. “We played reluctantly with no confidence. Ultimately, I have to take the responsibility for how our team plays. My job is to see that they play better than that, and if they don’t, then that’s my fault for whatever reason. We have to be more ready to play. (Fordham) made it a grind, and they won the grind at the end because they made more plays.”

Moore scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half.

“We had nobody to go to,” Dambrot said. “They went to their guy, and Moore beat us up for 10 minutes consistently. We lost them in a 2-minute stretch, and we lost the game.”

It was tug-of-war between two teams not expected to make much noise in the A-10 race. But both have been a surprise after Fordham was chosen to finish 10th in the 15-team league, while Duquesne was picked last.

Duquesne and Fordham came in having combined for 22 nonconference victories, the Dukes with 10 and the Rams with an A-10 leading 12. It contributed heavily to the A-10’s lofty total of 112 wins in nonconference play, which ranks third behind only the SEC (130) and Big Ten (115).

With some prodding from the coaches — and Rozier — Duquesne will attempt to get back in the winning column on Wednesday night, when league newcomer Loyola Chicago visits UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.