Duquesne's offensive struggles continue in loss to New Mexico State

Duquesne’s sudden case of cold shooting continued Sunday, contributing to another underwhelming loss after an encouraging 7-1 start to the men’s basketball season.

The Dukes came up empty for a second time in four days at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, losing 73-60 to New Mexico State. Duquesne’s leading scorer, Dae Dae Grant, made just two field goals and misfired on all eight of his 3-point attempts.

“We’re not going to win if he shoots 2 for 14 and 0 for 8,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said. “We’re not that good of a team if our best player doesn’t score. He doesn’t need to score as much, but he needs to be efficient. He still had opportunities, and he’s made some of those shots.”

Duquesne (7-3) collectively shot 32.7% and made only 4 of 25 3-point attempts three days after producing another poor performance of 34.2% overall in an 82-71 home loss to Marshall.

Grant entered Sunday averaging 18.9 points while shooting 49.1% overall and 50.8 (33 for 65) from behind the arc. But he struggled for a second game in a row after managing to convert only 6 of 19 attempts overall against Marshall.

“We just had a rough time of it,” Dambrot said. “We’ve been relying on our offense, which is eventually going to get you caught, and tonight we couldn’t shoot it. We didn’t play very good fluidity-wise as far as moving the ball. When that happens and you haven’t been as good defensively as you should be, then that’s what happens.”

Duquesne played much of the game without point guard Tevin Brewer, who injured his right shoulder early in the first half and did not return. Brewer, a transfer from Florida International, was averaging 8.4 points with a team-leading 27 assists despite beginning the season on the bench after undergoing an appendectomy.

“We’ll know more once we get pictures of it,” Dambrot said. “It’s going to be a pain-tolerance thing. It’s his right shoulder, so it’s going to be a little bit of an issue shooting the ball.”

Freshman Kareem Rozier handled most of the point guard duties in Brewer’s absence.

Duquesne continues a stretch of 12 home dates in its first 15 games Wednesday night at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse against DePaul.

“We’ve got to play way better than this,” Dambrot said. “We’re right in the middle of exam week with a lot of new guys, and it might be hard on them. We practiced good (Saturday). We weren’t very good tonight.”

Issa Muhammad scored 17 points, Deshawndre Washington added 16 to go with nine rebounds and DaJuan Gordon had 10 points and 11 rebounds to lead New Mexico State (5-3).

Xavier Pinson and Kyle Feit added 11 points each for the Aggies, who have been dealing with the aftermath of a fatal shooting last month, allegedly by one of its players. Junior forward Mike Peake is suspended indefinitely while an investigation continues.

Three other teammates were linked to the incident, but two — Muhammad and Marchelus Avery — were in uniform against Duquesne, with Muhammad returning to the starting lineup.

Muhammad, Avery and Anthony Roy sat out a 66-65 loss at Santa Clara on Wednesday. Roy remained suspended Sunday for what the team said was “personal reasons.”

Peake, who averaged 9.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in the Aggies’ first two games before being suspended, allegedly shot and killed New Mexico student Brandon Travis in an altercation on the New Mexico campus in Albuquerque.

Duquesne’s Jimmy Clark III led his team with 16 points.

New Mexico State, picked to finish second behind Grand Canyon in the 13-team Western Athletic Conference, won for the third time in four games by shooting 44.8 % and outrebounding Duquesne, 41-34.

Duquesne fell behind by as many as 17 points on two occasions in the second half before twice cutting the deficit to nine.

Grant and Joe Reece added 12 points each for Duquesne, but most of Grant’s points came on 8 of 9 free throws.

New Mexico State led 35-27 at halftime after outscoring Duquesne, 14-6, during the final 5 minutes, 42 seconds of the first half.

Duquesne will play three more nonconference game — all at home — beginning with the DePaul matchup before opening Atlantic 10 play Dec. 28 at Dayton.

“It won’t be easy. It’ll be a tough couple of weeks,” Dambrot said. “We’ve got to just gut it out. So, hopefully, they’ll do some soul-searching and talk to themselves and say, ‘We’re not going through this.’”