Duquesne's 3-game winning streak ends with decisive loss to Dayton

What was building as a showdown against Dayton wound up a dud for Duquesne.

The Dukes’ hot streak was put on ice by the Flyers on Tuesday night at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

“Everything went wrong,” Dukes coach Dru Joyce III said.

Enoch Cheeks scored 23 points and hot-shooting Dayton raced to an 82-62 victory over Duquesne, which lost for just the second time in nine games.

The Dukes will hope to wipe it from their memory as quickly as possible.

“We’ve got to snap out of this. It’s over now,” junior guard Kareem Rozier said. “We’ll see them again soon.”

Duquesne makes a return trip to Dayton on Feb. 15, but not before facing five other opponents beginning Sunday at Fordham.

“We’ve got to be ready to go. There’s a whole lot of games left,” Rozier said.

Added Joyce: “We’ve got to move on. This game has nothing to do with the next one. We’re a work in progress.”

Javon Bennett and 7-foot-1 France native Amael L’Etang added 16 points apiece for Dayton (13-6, 3-3 Atlantic 10), which played without two injured regulars — 6-8 Ohio State transfer Zed Key, who is averaging 11.2 points per game, and Butler transfer guard Posh Alexander, the second-leading active Division I steals leader (284), who also has played at St. John’s.

Duquesne (9-10, 4-2), which shot 42.9% (21 for 49), was led by Tre Dinkins III’s 14 points. The Dukes again were missing sophomore guard Jake DiMichele, whose injured left foot was scheduled to be re-examined Wednesday.

The 6-4 DiMichele, a former Our Lady of the Sacred Heart star, has played in just seven games this season in a reserve role and is averaging 10.9 points per game.

He originally tore the plantar tendon in his foot, which led to a stress fracture in his arch, he said. With the possibility of a redshirt on the table for the sophomore shooting guard, he’ll know more after a visit with the doctor.

“I want to play. I’m trying to do everything I can to play. Whatever that is, I’m trying,” said DiMichele, who began his college career last season as a walk-on before former Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot rewarded him with a scholarship.

He averaged 6.4 points in 30 games, 21 as a starter, and was a key piece in Duquesne’s lineup during its second-half surge that led to a long-awaited return to the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s very, very tough not playing,” DiMichele said. “But it helps that we’ve been winning.”

After beginning the year 0-6, Duquesne has rebounded and reached the .500 mark before Tuesday’s loss.

The Dukes entered the night having won three games in a row and seven of their previous eight and were tied with VCU and Saint Louis just a half-game behind George Mason for first place in the A-10.

But in a rematch of Duquesne’s 65-57 victory over then-No. 24 Dayton in the A-10 Tournament quarterfinals last season, the Flyers had their way with the Dukes.

“If you play a good team and you make mistakes, they punish you for those mistakes,” Joyce said. “We were punished for every mistake we made, and deservedly so. We weren’t ready to play, and I’ll take the blame for that.”

In Duquesne’s championship season last year, the Dukes dropped a pair of games to Dayton during the regular season before upending the Flyers in the postseason.

In the latest meeting, Cheeks, who began his college career at Robert Morris, shot 6 for 9 overall and 4 for 5 from 3-point range for Dayton. He was coming off a career-high 26 points Saturday in the Flyers’ 83-81 overtime victory over Loyola Chicago.

Against Duquesne, the Flyers shot 32 for 55 overall (58.2%) and made 13 of 23 3-point shots (56.5%).

“It felt like they were shooting close to 80%, and I think they were at one point,” Joyce said.

Dayton led by as many as 30 points (66-36) with 9 minutes, 49 seconds left.

Duquesne entered the game as one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the A-10 of late and was shooting 43.2% overall.

Junior forward David Dixon was making 72.4% of his shots overall in Duquesne’s first five A-10 games, while redshirt junior guard Maximus Edwards was at 69% during the same period.

Dayton came into the game having beaten a pair of ranked teams (Connecticut and Marquette) and with a two-point loss to then-No. 12 North Carolina and a five-point loss to then-No. 5 Iowa State.

But the Flyers, who spent one week ranked 22nd, had lost three games in a row before pulling out Saturday’s victory.

“They came in to give us a fight tonight and we didn’t punch back until late,” Rozier said. “It’s frustrating to go out like that because we’re way better than that. We’ve shown it. Tonight we let ourselves down.”