Duquesne drops Fordham at home to stay in A-10 race

David Dixon raised the roof multiple times Wednesday night at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse to the delight of a home Duquesne basketball crowd energized by the sounds of the Mt. Pleasant High School marching band, which was making a guest appearance alongside the Duquesne pep band.

The Dukes, led by Dixon’s 14 points — many on ally-oop dunks followed by his signature gesture of raising his arms while pushing his palms upwards — shook off a heartbreaking, one-point loss over the weekend to beat Fordham, 73-64, and avenge an earlier two-point loss to the Rams.

“It’s just a little celebration to get everybody going,” Dixon said. “I try to use it to get myself and the crowd going.”

His outbursts followed the Dukes’ 77-76 loss Saturday at Dayton and came on a a night when five Duquesne players scored in double figures.

“We came together in that locker room after that loss,” Dixon said. “These next few games are going to show what the (Atlantic 10) Tournament is going to be about.”

Duquesne (11-15, 5-7) faces a tough regular-season-ending stretch beginning Saturday at St. Bonaventure. The Dukes also will face the league’s top two teams at home — George Mason (on March 1) and VCU (on March 4) — as well as trips to La Salle (on Wednesday) and Saint Louis (on March 8).

Smiling at Dixon afterwards, fellow junior forward Matus Hronsky, whose career-high seven assists against Fordham followed a career-high 16 points against Dayton, took delight in Dixon’s antics.

“I know with Dave, I can throw it anywhere, basically, and he’s going to get to it,” Hronsky said. “I just feel comfortable where I am right now.”

Cam Crawford and Tre Dinkins III (13 each), Jahsean Corbett (12) and Eli Wilborn (10) also reached double digits in scoring for the Duquesne.

It was Crawford who committed a silly foul in the closing seconds at Dayton with the score tied that led to Malachi Smith’s go-ahead free throw with 6 seconds. It stood as the winner when Dinkins’ 3-point shot at the buzzer was off the mark.

“The first thing after that game was I made everyone sit up straight in the locker room,” Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III said. “Some guys want to stretch out or put their head down. I said, ‘Eyes up and sit straight in the chair. No one’s pulling the plug on these games.’ And I don’t want that type of vibe because ‘we’ve got to get to the next game.’ ”

It took some time for the Dukes to respond against Fordham, but they finally did in a big way Wednesday, using a 15-6 run to open the second half and take control after the teams played to a 31-31 halftime tie.

While Hronsky finished with just seven points, Joyce praised the 6-foot-8 junior, who’s finally getting an opportunity to show his immense skills.

“We ran a lot of sets toward him because he was making great plays,” Joyce said. “You kind of saw the balance of his skill set.”

Hronsky shot 2 for 5 and also contributed four rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

While Hronsky was dishing the rock, Dixon was keeping the crowd engaged with his throwdowns and roof-raising.

“I’ve tried to retire it,” he said, “but people keep telling me, ‘Nah, you’ve got to keep that. It’s your thing.’ ”

Duquesne remained in the heart of a tight race in the A-10 standings, moving up two spots to a tie for seventh with Rhode Island. Just 2 1/2 games separate third and ninth places.

“We’ve got to continue to turn it up. You have to embrace this time of the season,” Joyce said. “I’ve been around a lot of basketball on teams. It can go either way. You can fake it and act like you’re really into and really go flat.

“You can completely tank and say you’re done with it. That’ll show up, too.

“Or you can embrace the moment, love the opportunity. Don’t take these moments for granted. You don’t get these chances back. You have to treat these times with care and really go after it. I don’t want them to have any regrets.”

Jackie Johnson III, who began his college career at Duquesne, led Fordham with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Matt Zona added 12, and Japhet Medor and Josh Rivera finished with 10 apiece for the Rams, who defeated Duquesne, 65-63, on Jan. 26 in New York.

Johnson played one season at Duquesne in 2021-22 before transferring to UNLV for two seasons prior to coming to Fordham, where he leads the Rams in scoring (18.7 ppg).

With former Duquesne great Mike James looking on, the Dukes were locked in a battle with Johnson and the Rams in the latest meeting.

It was yet another tightly contested game for Duquesne as neither team led by double digits until Dixon converted a pair of free throws for Duquesne with 4 minutes, 6 seconds left, giving the Dukes a 61-50 advantage.

Fordham (3-10, 11-15) got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Duquesne’s usually inept free-throw shooting came to life with a 21-for-26 showing. When Joyce was reminded that some earlier games could’ve been won on the free-throw line — the Dukes came in shooting just 63.1% — he reacted with dismay.

Reminded that Corbett, who was shooting a dismal 42.5% from the stripe, made all four of his attempts, Joyce said his coaches reviewed film of Corbett’s free-throw shooting while he was at Chicago State prior to coming to Duquesne.

“You could see he was shooting it completely different then,” Joyce said. “His form was different. He was a 70% shooter there. Tonight he was 100%.”

Eleven of Duquesne’s 15 losses have been by fewer than eight points, including eight within five points.

What’s more, the Dukes’ five A-10 road losses are by a combined 18 points (3.6 ppg).

Duquesne played without sophomore forward Jakub Necas, who sat out with a sore ankle. The 6-8 Necas has started 16 of 24 games and is averaging 5.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 23.1 minutes per game.

Sophomore forward Chabi Barre was in uniform but didn’t enter the lineup after a five-game absence while nursing a recurring hamstring injury that also kept him sidelined for four games at the start of the season.

The 6-9 Barre has started 11 of 15 games and is second on the team with 21 blocked shots while averaging 4.3 points and 3.9 rebounds in 12.7 minutes per game.

The victory came with James, the former Dukes point guard from 1994-98, in town. The native of Amityville, N.Y., spent 13 seasons in the NBA, winning a championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.

He went undrafted after averaging 20.4 points as a senior at Duquesne, where he ranks among the all-time leaders in career points (1,411) and steals (201).

James’ No. 13 was retired by Duquesne in 2017.