Duquesne improves to 5-1 with bruising win over Alabama State

When coach Keith Dambrot predicted that Duquesne’s basketball game Wednesday night against winless Alabama State would be “a hard game,” he wasn’t kidding.

“They beat us up on the boards,” Dambrot said following the injury-riddled Dukes’ 75-57 victory at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. “We haven’t really gotten crushed up like that. … We’ve got a lot of work to do to become the team we want to become, but we’re capable.”

Duquesne wrapped up a run of three games in eight days by grinding through its latest victory, thankfully sending the Dukes into an extended Thanksgiving break with a 5-1 record.

They already are one win away from matching last season’s victory total (a 6-24 record after finishing the year with 17 consecutive losses).

Duquesne’s lone setback this year occurred in its only road game to date, a Nov. 11 trip to No. 15 Kentucky.

Since then, the Dukes have reeled off home victories against South Carolina State, Colgate, North Florida — a one-point outcome Monday on point guard Tevin Brewer’s buzzer-beating runner — and Alabama State.

Duquesne will attempt to heal during a stretch of five days off leading to a Tuesday night home affair against UC Santa Barbara.

“It’s a good team,” Dambrot said. “We’ll come back and get our guys ready in practice and work on some things. The good thing is we’ve seen a lot of different things (such as various zone defenses), so, at least, we’ll be prepared.”

Dae Dae Grant scored 23 points, Austin Rotroff turned in his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds to go with four blocks, and Duquesne used a 14-0 second-half run, keyed by Quincy McGriff’s eight points, to put away pesky Alabama State (0-6).

“We knew we needed to play harder,” McGriff said after Duquesne survived Alabama State’s physical presence in the paint, particularly in the first half. The Hornets wound up outrebounding the Dukes, 45-37, after starting with a 20-2 advantage.

“We reacted better in the second half,” Dambrot said.

Alabama State was coming off a 74-53 loss to Pitt on Sunday at Petersen Events Center after leading the Panthers at halftime.

Picked to finish 10th in the 12-team Southwestern Athletic Conference, Alabama State had been in Pittsburgh since Saturday. The Hornets are in the midst of 12 road games to start the season before they finally have an opportunity to play their home opener Jan. 2 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Their lone nonconference home game against Carver College was canceled.

“It was tough in the first half. We weren’t really expecting that,” said Duquesne freshman big man David Dixon, who started his second career game in place of ailing Joe Reece and finished with five blocks.

Dixon is learning quickly that, unlike at the high school level, there’s no room for a letdown.

“Coach D is a very demanding person, I will say that,” Dixon said of Dambrot. “But I feel I’m up to the challenge and I’m willing to do anything to have a spot on this team to be in the mix.”

The 6-foot-9 Dixon is getting his chances early.

Duquesne has withstood injuries to three big men — the 6-foot-8 Reece (ankle), 6-7 R.J. Gunn Jr. (foot) and 6-9 freshman Halil Barre (knee), who has yet to play in a college game.

In addition, 6-7 Kevin Easley Jr., who needs 135 points to reach 1,000 for his career, is serving an indefinite suspension for a violation of team rules, while 6-8 freshman Matus Hronsky was battling an illness and played in just four minutes against Alabama State.

“We miss those guys,” Dambrot said. “You can say whatever you want, but those guys are older guys. Reece is so experienced. Rotroff is playing good because he’s experienced. He knows what he’s good at.”

McGriff added 11 points for Duquesne, which managed 11 blocked shots, four shy of a school record. The Dukes outshot Alabama State, 46.6% to 31.1% and made 8 of 21 shots from 3-point range (38.1 %).

Duquesne enjoyed its largest lead of 25 points (68-43) with 5 minutes, 40 seconds left before coasting the rest of the way.

Isaiah Range and Jordan O’Neal led Alabama State, each with 10 points. Duquesne held the Hornets’ leading scorer, TJ Madlock, to a season-low nine points on 4-of-14 shooting. Madlock was averaging 15.0 points per game.