For 13 seasons, Keith Dambrot’s basketball teams at Akron were fed a steady diet of Mid-American Conference opponents, among them Bowling Green — indeed, no stranger to Duquesne’s fifth-year coach.

On Wednesday night, Bowling Green was Duquesne’s opposition at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, where Dambrot was facing his first MAC opponent since prior to taking the Duquesne job before the start of the 2017-18 season.

The outcome — a 78-70 Duquesne loss — was not typical of a Dambrot-coached team against the Falcons, who got 15 points and 12 rebounds from Joe Reece and 15 points from Kaden Matheny as Bowling Green rallied before a crowd of 2,111 for its first victory over the Dukes since 2001.

“My record against Bowling Green in my time at Akron was 25-2,” Dambrot said. “That’s a game we’ve got to win. We led (almost) all the way, but in the last 4 minutes, we did nothing.”

In the first meeting in the series since December 2011, Duquesne saw its winning streak against Bowling Green end at four. Samari Curtis added 14 points and Daeqwon Plowden scored 13 for the Falcons (4-4), who ended the game on a 12-0 run to pull away.

“Through the first eight games of the year now, we’ve screwed up three of them, at least,” Dambrot said. “This is not the first time. We did nothing against Weber State (63-59 loss on Nov. 15). We could have won that one. We came back against Hofstra (73-63 loss on Nov. 13) and didn’t win that one. And we blew the Colorado game (84-76 overtime loss on Nov. 20).

“We’ve shown we can play close and that we’re competitive, but we haven’t shown we can win.”

Duquesne (3-5) did not score in the final 2 minutes, 47 seconds against Bowling Green. Leon Ayers III scored 20 points, Kevin Easley Jr. added 18 and Tre Williams had 12 for the Dukes, who are back in action Saturday at Marshall.

Duquesne came in having won two in a row before losing the lead late and falling to Bowling Green.

“We’re playing guys too many minutes,” Dambrot said. “We’ve got to make some changes in order to try to win. We played a really short bench, which really isn’t good. I felt like my hands were tied a little bit. We’ve just been inconsistent. We had them on the ropes early and we give up a 3. Good teams go for the throat when you have chances. Ultimately, we’ve got to teach these guys how to win. It’s simple. We’re just not ready to win close games yet.”

Dambrot said there is no timetable for injured forward R.J. Gunn Jr.’s return from a high-ankle sprain. Gunn has played briefly in just one game this season, logging 4 minutes against Weber State.

“It’s hard to know when RJ will be available,” Dambrot said of the 6-foot-7, 240-pound Gunn, a high-scoring transfer from Division II Lenoir-Rhyne. “I thought he aggravated it in that game. How long is it going to take? I wouldn’t say he’s close. High-ankle sprains can hurt all year long. It’s an awful injury.”

Trailing by six at halftime, Bowling Green fought back to take a 60-59 lead on a 3-point shot by Josiah Fulcher with 6:24 left.

Ayers III, the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Week for his performances in victories last week against Bradley and American, converted four consecutive free throws and sank a long 3-point shot to give Duquesne a 66-64 advantage inside the 4-minute mark.

A three-point play by Primo Spears extended the Duquesne lead to 70-66, but the Dukes were unable to hang on.

Curtis sank a 3-point shot with 1 minute left to give Bowling Green a 72-70 lead. After Spears’ fadeaway shot missed the rim and went out of bounds off Williams, Reece hit two free throws to give the Falcons a 74-70 advantage.

Bowling Green converted six in a row from the foul line in the final 36 seconds.

“All of this is mental at the end,” Ayers III said. “It’s not like we’re dead-tired, but everybody is more fatigued than when we started the game. It’s a discipline thing, locking in when it really matters. We’re 0-4 when we get in close games with teams. There’s going to be way more close games that we’re going to have to execute on it. We’re just going to have to learn from it and move on.”

Duquesne misfired on its first six shots before Easley Jr. made a traditional three-point play on a reverse layup and free throw. Ayers III followed on the next possession with a 3-pointer to put Duquesne ahead, and the Dukes used a 10-0 run to take a 10-4 lead.

The Dukes remained in front, building a 28-18 advantage before Bowling Green went on an 11-0 run to seize a 29-28 lead with 3:10 left in the first half.

But Duquesne regrouped, using a pair of 3-point shots by Toby Okani and Tyson Acuff to go back in front and carried a 38-32 lead at halftime.

“We’ve just been inconsistent,” Dambrot said. “We got no stops, and we made simple mistakes in the ball screen defense. They probably out-toughed us on the boards, but that’s fatigue. We’re small and not great individually defensively, yet. You’ve got to make a 3 when it matters. They made them and we didn’t when it mattered. It’s frustrating. We missed free throws, and we didn’t make any plays.”

Bowling Green shot 52.9% (9 for 17) from 3-point range; Duquesne 34.6 (9-26). The Dukes missed their final five 3-point attempts.

The Falcons made 13 of 18 free throws (72.2%) compared to 15 of 24 (62.5) for Duquesne.

“Ultimately, it comes back on me,” Dambrot said. “But it’s a players game. You’ve got to make plays. You can put them in position to make plays, and then, you have to make plays. You can’t step out of bounds. You can’t miss free throws. You’ve got to make open 3s. You’ve got to make the extra pass, which we didn’t do.

“A lot of it is mindset. It’s simple.”

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