Fordham sinks Duquesne on last-second layup

In one moment, Duquesne was hoping for another tight victory — its fourth win in a row — but in the next, the Dukes were walking away with another tight loss.

Fordham ended a six-game losing streak to Duquesne in men’s basketball Wednesday night, rallying from a 13-point, first-half deficit to beat the Dukes, 72-71, at Rose Hill Gym in New York on a coast-to-coast, winning shot by Antonio Daye Jr.

It is the first 2-0 start in the Atlantic 10 for the Rams since joining the league in 1995-96.

“We’ve been in a million of them already,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said of the Dukes’ 10th single-digit outcome of the season.

They are 5-5 in those games, with two of the losses coming by one point each, including this one, which ended a three-game Duquesne winning streak and spoiled an explosive performance by freshman guard Primo Spears. Spears scored 15 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to keep the Dukes in contention.

“Primo is so talented. He’s made strides,” Dambrot said. “He’s so talented that, at times, teams are going to force him to make passes. He’s so confident that, at times, he’s not doing that. But he’s a confident and talented player.”

Spears shot 8 for 12 and was 3 for 4 on 3-point shots. But the Dukes managed just 10 assists (Fordham had 20) and only three by Spears.

Fordham (9-5, 2-0) was playing in only its second game in three weeks because of covid-19 protocols — the Rams beat La Salle on Dec. 30 — and the layoff showed in the first half as Duquesne built a 33-20 lead before settling for a 40-33 advantage at halftime.

It was the first time this season Duquesne played a game with no fans in attendance after Fordham recently decided to ban spectators at home games.

Fordham found its legs and raced past the Dukes in the second half before losing a lead that had reached eight points, then rallying to win on Daye Jr.’s driving layup with 4 seconds left after a missed free throw by Duquesne’s Kevin Easley Jr. at the other end.

“We’ve made some improvement, but we’ve just got to do a better job of responding when we get down,” said Dambrot, who has shortened his rotation with the start of the A-10 schedule and seems to have settled on an eight-man group.

“We did a good job of responding when we got hit in the mouth in the second half. We came back and gave ourselves a chance to win it there at the end. But we allowed Fordham to play harder than us (after halftime). We’re close to being pretty good. I keep saying it: We’re going to be a tough out.”

Daye Jr. and Darius Quisenberry led Fordham with 16 points apiece. Chuba Ohams had 14 points and 16 rebounds, enhancing his double-double average of 14.5 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.

Kyle Rose scored 13 points for the Rams, who hadn’t beaten Duquesne since the 2017-18 season.

Jackie Johnson III, along with Spears, part of Duquesne’s dynamic freshman backcourt, scored 11 first-half points to spark the Dukes to their early success. It was the second time in a row that the pair were in the starting lineup.

Johnson III, who was coming of a career-high tying 27 points in a 78-74 victory at Massachusetts, and Leon Ayers III scored 13 points each and Tre Williams added 12 for Duquesne (6-8, 1-1).

Ohams and Williams waged a fierce battle in the paint with Ohams blocking eight shots and Williams coming up with a career-high tying seven rejections.

“He looked like he got his legs and wind back,” Dambrot said of the 6-foot-7 Williams, who gave up two inches to Ohams.

Williams injured his shoulder in a victory over UC Irvine in December and didn’t appear to be a full strength against UMass. But he went toe-to-toe with Ohams, who leads the A-10 in rebounding.

Duquesne, which returns home to face Dayton at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, shot 47% in the first half but went cold after intermission. The Dukes committed a season-high 15 turnovers.

Duquesne, which entered the game averaging just 10.9 turnovers, used a 9-0 run to erase a five-point deficit and take a 16-12 lead early on before rolling to their 13-point lead that had the Dukes looking to be in control.

But Fordham took advantage of some cold shooting and sloppy ball-handling by Duquesne to recover. After cutting into their seven-point halftime deficit, the Rams went on a 12-0 run to take a 45-44 lead on a layup by Daye Jr.

Duquesne finally ended the cold spell with a Spears jumper, and the teams kept up their back-and-forth pace. At the 11-minute mark, Duquesne already had reached its average of 11 turnovers.

Fordham seized a 63-55 lead with 7:07 left following a 7-0 run, but Duquesne scratched back to tie it at 67-67 on a 3-point shot by Ayers III.

Quisenberry converted 1 of 2 free throws for Fordham, then Ayers III followed with two foul shots for a 69-68 Duquesne lead.

Ohams scored inside for Fordham for a 70-69 lead, and Duquesne then went back in front 71-70 on a jumper by Spears with 33 seconds to go.

Williams preserved the lead by blocking a pair of shots and forcing Fordham into a timeout with 13 seconds remaining. Duquesne regained possession when Quisenberry shot an air ball and Easley Jr. was fouled.

But he missed the front end of the 1-and-1 and Fordham capitalized to slow Duquesne’s recent dominance in the series.