Cold-shooting Duquesne upset by La Salle in Atlantic 10 Tournament

One look at the anguished expressions was all it took to feel the despair.

A season full of surprise and its share of highlights ended in disappointment Wednesday night for the Duquesne men’s basketball team in its first game of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament as No. 11 La Salle surged past the sixth-seeded Dukes with a big second-half en route to an 81-70 victory at Barclays Center in New York.

Jhamir Brickus and Khalil Brantley combined to score 34 of their 45 total points after halftime, helping the Explorers (15-18) erase a six-point deficit and send the cold-shooting Dukes (20-12) to the sideline.

“The hard part for me is those guys have given us everything we’ve wanted all year long,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said. “I feel bad for them because they just didn’t get what they deserved, really. Now, we didn’t play very well, so I guess we deserved what we got tonight. But overall, they had a really good season and deserved a little bit better.”

Though predicted in a preseason poll to finish last in the 15-team A-10 after ending last season on a 17-game losing streak, Dambrot and his staff rebuilt the Dukes roster with 10 new players — five each from the transfer portal and the incoming freshmen class — and Duquesne became a surprise of the conference by producing just the program’s third 20-win season (second under Dambrot) in 46 years as an A-10 member.

“All these guys are good guys. They’ve all been great,” Dambrot said. “We’ve had good camaraderie, good leadership. They’ve been fun to be around. I know a lot of coaches say that, but they’re good people.”

It was in stark contrast to last season’s debacle, when Duquesne struggled to develop enough chemistry to succeed, finishing with a 6-24 overall record and 1-16 in the A-10.

It led to a mass exodus through the portal, headlined by the departure of the team’s leading scorer, freshman guard Primo Spears (12.7 ppg), who transferred to Georgetown, where he also led the team in scoring (15.9 ppg). But the Hoyas struggled this season to a 7-25 record, including 2-18 in the Big East.

This Duquesne squad caught many by surprise. An early 25-point loss to then-No. 4 Kentucky was followed by six consecutive victories to give the Dukes a 7-1 record that expanded to 10-3 heading into A-10 play, where they finished with a 10-8 mark.

Among the victories was a 91-74 rout of La Salle in Philadelphia. But it was different story this time.

“In the first game, we dominated their guards,” Dambrot said. “We looked a little fatigued (Wednesday) to me, a half-step slow at both ends. It’s a long year.”

The loss denied Duquesne a chance of avenging its worst setback of the season last Saturday to Fordham, a 27-point defeat in the regular-season finale.

Instead, it’ll be La Salle advancing to Thursday’s quarterfinals against the third-seeded Rams.

“Hats off to La Salle and their Hall of Fame coach (Fran Dunphy), Dambrot said. “Terrific coach. Terrific human being. They played well.”

Both coaches have combined for more nearly 1,100 career victories, Dunphy with 595 and Dambrot with 504.

Brickus led La Salle with 23 points. Brantley finished with 22.

Duquesne’s Jimmy Clark III led all scorers with 27 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Dukes ended the year on a sour note, losing four of their final six games.

La Salle, which defeated No. 14 Rhode Island, 73-56, in a first-round game Tuesday, erased a six-point halftime deficit against Duquesne, tying the score 33-33 on a quick 6-0 run to start the second half.

Duquesne answered with an 11-3 spurt to tie its biggest lead to that point, 44-36, on consecutive 3-point shots by Clark.

But La Salle recovered to tie it at 44-44 on a basket by Brantley, capping an 8-0 run with 12:58 left.

The teams continued jockeying back and forth.

Duquesne led 49-48 on a turnaround jumper by R.J. Gunn Jr. before La Salle finally got the upper hand, outscoring Duquesne 14-2 to take control, 61-51, with 6:10 to go.

Duquesne couldn’t recover.

“I’ve never seen our guys really get hung over. They just get onto the next one. But we didn’t play well, so I guess you could assume that,” Dambrot said, referring to a suggestion that his team came into the game reeling from its 87-60 weekend loss to Fordham.

Dae Dae Grant scored 13 points — all in the first half — for Duquesne. Joe Reece also finished with 13 and Tevin Brewer scored 12.

“It was a lack of rhythm and feel for the most part and us just having to move the ball better on the offensive end,” said Grant, who led Duquesne in scoring this season. “I give them credit. They played with more energy. We have to be better on our side.”

The Dukes shot just 35% (24 for 68) and made 10 of 33 3-point shots. La Salle finished at 51% (26 for 51) overall.

Grant picked up his second foul with 6:02 to go before halftime as Duquesne was in the midst of launching an 11-0 run.

Brewer’s floater gave the Dukes a 23-22 lead before Clark showed why he became just Duquesne’s sixth A-10 all-defensive team selection with a steal and dunk.

Clark’s pullup 3-point jumper 2:37 before the break extended Duquesne’s lead to 28-22.

Clark led the A-10 with 72 steals, tied for eighth in Division I. His average of 2.32 steals per game during the regular season was second to A-10 Defensive Player of Year Ace Baldwin (2.46) of VCU.

But the second half belonged to La Salle, which raced to a 54-37 edge and ran away with the victory.