Duquesne men fall into early hole, lose at home to Hofstra

After just two college basketball games, Duquesne’s rebuilt men’s team already is finding out a lot of things about itself, and it’s not all bad.

“I respect our team’s fight,” freshman guard Primo Spears said.

“We have freshman guards who have played two college games. You know what I mean?” TCU transfer Kevin Easley Jr., a sophomore forward, said. “So they’re learning on the fly. But we have so much trust in them.”

Despite stumbling 73-63 at home to Hofstra on Saturday night, Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot was encouraged by his jelling team’s fight.

“This is a new process for me,” Dambrot said. “I’m not happy losing, but they showed some good character. We just have to continue to coach them and get them better every day and make progress.”

Zach Cooks scored 29 points to lead four Hofstra players in double figures, and the Pride held off a second-half Duquesne rally before a crowd of 2,312 at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Cooks shot 12 for 20, including 5 for 10 from 3-point range for Hofstra (1-1), which was coming off an eight-point overtime loss at No. 15 Houston on Tuesday.

The Pride shot 58%, including 47.6 (10 for 21) from 3-point range.

Duquesne (1-1), which shot 40% from behind the arc in Tuesday’s season-opening 73-61 victory over Rider, struggled to find the mark against Hofstra. The Dukes finished at 37.9% and made just 3 of 24 attempts from 3-point range (12.5%), an area that dogged the team last season.

“We’re not going to win many games if we shoot 3 for 24 from 3, and I thought most of them were open. I really did,” Dambrot said. “I didn’t think many of them were forced. Maybe a little bit in the first half. Leon (Ayers III) had a million of them. He’s a 38, 39 percent 3-point shooter, and he didn’t make any (0 for 7).”

Darlinstone Dubar and Aaron Estrada added 14 points apiece, and Abayomi Iyiola scored 12 for Hofstra.

Spears paced Duquesne with 17 points. Easley Jr., the Southern Conference Freshman of the Year in 2019 at Chattanooga before playing a season at TCU last year and then transferring to Duquesne, added 14 points and 10 rebounds for his third career double-double.

Duquesne fell into a deep hole early, trailing Hofstra throughout the first half and stumbling to an 18-point halftime deficit. But an 11-0 run to start the second half ignited the crowd and Duquesne’s stagnant offense to pull the Dukes within 41-34.

Spears, a 6-3 freshman point guard from Hartford, Conn., was the catalyst, scoring 13 points in a span of 4 minutes, 13 seconds.

“He had zero assists,” Dambrot said, “but actually, he should have had about 10 of them, right? The other guys just missed open shots when he passed it to them. It’s unfortunate.”

Spears scored 16 of his 17 points in the second half and finished 7-for-15 shooting.

“Our chemistry is good, but it can get to another level,” Spears said. “It’s early, and it’s a learning process.”

A pair of 3-pointers by Mike Bekelja and Spears sandwiched around a basket by Hofstra’s Iyiola got Duquesne within 47-42 before Austin Rotroff’s basket made it 47-44.

The 6-foot-10 Rotroff missed most of the preseason as well as Duquesne’s opener four nights earlier recovering from a stress fracture in his foot.

“We made a run in the second half, but we just couldn’t pull it out,” Spears said.

Dambrot said the Dukes’ furious second-half rally was emotionally draining.

“We played much better, defensively, in the second half, but we made some dumb turnovers late,” he said. “When you’re coming back, you can’t do that. We just didn’t make enough to get over the hump.”

After the Dukes nearly pulled even, Hofstra managed to recover, pushing the lead back to 58-48 on a 3-point shot by Cooks with 8:50 left.

Spears got Duquesne within 64-58 on a jumper with 3:14 remaining, but Hofstra held on, using a 9-2 run to surge ahead, 71-58.

The first half featured a familiar face doing most of the damage for a visiting team.

Cooks’ 20 points nearly matched Duquesne’s entire first-half total.

The first-year grad transfer at Hofstra led NJIT to a nine-point victory at Duquesne in December 2018 and was enjoying the idea of slicing through the Dukes defense in his latest visit, chanting and clapping after every basket.

He made 8 of 11, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range, in the first 20 minutes to spark Hofstra to a 41-23 halftime advantage.

But in the second half, Dambrot inserted freshman guard Mike Bekelja to guard Cooks, who scored just three points through the first 15 minutes.

“That gave us an enormous lift,” Spears said. “Mike is a big piece for us. His on-ball pressure and lack of mistakes on offense — he doesn’t try to do anything he doesn’t have to — is unbelievable.”

The 18-point halftime spread was the largest lead in the first half.

It will be a short turnaround for Duquesne, which is back at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Monday to entertain Weber State before leaving for four games at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands beginning Friday.

“Coach D came in after the game and was actually proud of how we played in the second half,” Easley said. “He said, ‘This is a new team.’ We’re missing two key guys (Rotroff is limited, and 6-7, 240-pound R.J. Gunn Jr. is still recovering from a high ankle sprain). R.J. will make us bigger in the frontcourt. We’ve just got to stay the course. We’ve got a lot of games in the next couple of weeks. We’ve got to be ready and take care of our bodies.”