AKRON, Ohio — Keith Dambrot took Duquesne’s latest victory Monday night with little fanfare, even though it went down to the wire at the house where Dambrot once coached future NBA superstar LeBron James.

David Dixon took a long pass from Jimmy Clark III and scored just before the final buzzer to lift the Dukes to a 69-67 victory over Bradley at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, extending their winning streak to four.

“You could tell we were a little crusty and rusty. We didn’t quite have it, kind of ran in mud,” Dambrot said. “We just kind of hung around. We weren’t very good, but we were good enough.”

Clark stole the ball from Bradley’s Malevy Leons in the Braves’ end and took several dribbles before spotting Dixon streaking towards the Duquesne basket and delivered a strike to the Dukes sophomore, who scored on a contested layup with 0.2 seconds left.

“The instincts kicked and I just had to make a play,” said Clark, who led Duquesne (8-2) with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting. He also finished with five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

69-67 Dukes with 0.2 seconds left#GoDukes pic.twitter.com/icwZfqrXRo

— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) December 19, 2023

Though Dixon made the winning shot, he seemed more concerned with his overall play.

“It wasn’t my best game. I’ll admit that,” he said. “But I’m glad we got out of it with a win. I tried to play as hard as I can. I knew I’d make a layup. That’s basic stuff. I just went up for a layup and it went in. I’m happy.”

Andrei Savrasov and Dae Dae Grant added 17 points apiece for the Dukes, who will travel to Las Vegas on Saturday to face Santa Clara in another neutral site game.

Bradley (6-5), playing its third consecutive game without second-leading scorer Connor Hickman (13.5 ppg), out with an ankle injury, led for much of the game.

But an extended second-half scoring drought covering 3 minutes, 50 seconds allowed Duquesne to rally from a 10-point deficit to take a lead. Though there were three ties during the final 7:27, the Dukes never trailed again.

The Braves clung to a 40-37 halftime advantage after Grant drained a long 3-point shot at the buzzer to cut the Dukes’ deficit in half.

Bradley’s lead reached 52-42 on a hook shot by Darius Hanna with 15:10 remaining before Duquesne began to chip away.

The Dukes regained a lead they held early in the first half when Clark’s long 2-pointer at the shot clock buzzer tied the score at 58-58 and a Savrasov bucket put them in front by a deuce.

A pair of Grant free throws gave the Dukes a 67-64 lead with 55 seconds left. The senior guard, who earlier this season set a Duquesne record for consecutive free throws, was 4 for 4 from the line to improve his season total to 62 for 66 (94%).

Christian Davis’ 3-point shot pulled Bradley even at 67-67 with 35 seconds to go.

Clark then committed a turnover and Bradley was in position to win the game. But Clark atoned for his mistake by picking the ball from Leons and feeding Dixon for the game-winner.

“That’s Jimmy,” Dambrot said. “You’ve got to play with the good and the bad. He’s going to do some bad, but he’s going to do a lot of good. He had a rough night early, but he got it going a little bit. He’s a winner.

“These guys gutted it out. They knew they didn’t quite have it, but they gutted it out.”

Dambrot remained undefeated as a college coach at the school where he spent three seasons as coach from 1998-2001, compiling a 69-10 mark.

“We didn’t lose many when I was here, either,” he said. “It’s a storied place now. (Duquesne associate head coach Dru Joyce III’s) dad has won a million state championships. Before we got here, I think they had one state championship. It was primarily a football school. Now, it’s probably the best basketball school in the state of Ohio.

Sporting the shoes they received last week from the venue’s namesake, Duquesne’s players remained unbeaten in four trips to The LeBron James Arena at St. Mary-St. Vincent.

The Dukes came through by a whisker on the newly named Coach Dru Joyce Court, holding Bradley scoreless during a stretch of 3 minutes, 50 seconds in the second half while rallying to take the lead.

It was the fifth time in Dambrot’s seven season at Duquesne that the Dukes have played at a high school facility in Dambrot’s hometown.

In addition to Bradley, the Dukes defeated Radford, UC-Irvine and Colgate at St. Mary-St. Vincent. They also bested Radford at Ellet High School.

The court at St. Vincent-St. Mary earlier this year was renamed in honor of Dru Joyce II, the current St. Vincent-St. Mary coach and the father of Joyce III.

Joyce III played two seasons there for his father after playing two seasons alongside NBA superstar LeBron James under Dambrot, who left the school in 2001 to take an assistant’s job at Akron, where he later enjoyed a long, successful run as head coach before coming to Duquesne.

Savrasov scored Duquesne’s first seven points to help the Dukes to a 9-2 lead. They led 13-8 on a dunk by Dixon before Bradley used a 10-0 run to go in front in front, 18-13.

From there, the Braves held the lead until halftime.

Duke Deen led Bradley with 15 points, Hannah added 14 and Leons finished with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Braves, who held a 37-33 edge on the glass.

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