Retooled Duquesne opens season by beating Rider at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse

Programs here!

If you attended Duquesne’s first season-opening men’s basketball game Tuesday night at the new UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse — a come-from-behind, 73-61 victory over Rider — chances are you found yourself staring at your game program as much as you were watching the court.

Everything appeared new, including an end zone packed with hundreds of Duquesne students who served as a home cheering section rarely seen in past years at the former Palumbo Center, the site on which the school’s new $45 million facility is situated.

“Everybody was pumped up and ready to play,” said Duquesne’s Tre Williams, one of many new faces on the Dukes’ team this year. “You want to get the win so people will come back.”

Duquesne, with a retooled roster featuring 10 first-year players, returned just 23.2% of its total minutes played from last season, a percentage that ranks as the fifth-lowest among NCAA Division I programs.

See, you really couldn’t tell the players without a program. But, as the night progressed, Duquesne’s players came into focus and the Dukes managed to do what they’ve done in nearly every opener before — come away a winner.

Kevin Easley Jr., who played last season at TCU under former Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, scored 16 points and Duquesne’s revamped lineup pulled away in the second half to beat Rider before a crowd of 2,276.

Capacity is 3,500 at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

“It’s a high-quality building, but it really means nothing if nobody comes to the game,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said. “Guys play hard when people are at the game. I thought it was really good for the students to come out, but we have to continue to support those students.”

Duquesne is 83-4 in home openers and 88-18 in overall openers.

Duquesne trailed Rider, 45-44, on a Sedrick Altman’s dunk with 15 minutes, 29 seconds left and was tied with the Broncs at 51 apiece before taking the lead for good on Williams’ basket with 8:36 remaining.

From there, the Dukes overpowered Rider, using a 12-0 run to take a commanding 71-55 lead.

Williams, an Indiana State transfer, and point guard Primo Spears scored 14 points each for Duquesne, with Spears handing out seven assists in his college debut.

Leon Ayers III, a transfer from Mercer, added 12 points and tied Williams for the team lead in rebounds with six.

The Dukes shot 12 for 30 (40%) from 3-point range, while Rider was just 2 for 16 (12.5). Dwight Murray Jr. led the Broncs with 17 points, Dimencio Vaughn added 13 and James Mervin 10 for Rider, a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference member.

The 6-foot-7 Williams made 2 of 3 from behind the arc after making just 3 of 10 attempts in two years at Indiana State.

“We learned that everybody could step up at any time,” said Williams, a former all-defensive team selection in the Missouri Valley Conference. “We had guys who started the game strong, but didn’t finish the game. And we had guys who didn’t start the game well, but finished well. We found out that everybody is going to be a major piece to this season, so we need everybody to contribute.”

Duquesne, which overcame the loss of several big men — 6-10 Austin Rotroff (stress fracture in foot) and 6-7 R.J. Gunn (high ankle sprain) — needed Williams to play 37 minutes.

“Right now,” Dambrot said, “we’re not capable of being great inside because we just don’t have enough bodies.”

Rotroff represents one of just handful of returning players from last season.

Dambrot, who began his fifth season on The Bluff, replaced 10 of his top 12 scorers from last year’s opening-day roster, as 11 players who saw action in 2020-21 are not part of this year’s team.

The new lineup started slowly but came together in the second half, building a 16-point lead after trailing at halftime, 33-30.

Easley sent the crowd into an early frenzy, pounding his chest after back-to-back 3-point shots that gave Duquesne an 11-5 lead. But Rider ran off a 9-2 spurt to take back the lead.

From there, the first half went back and forth with neither team leading by more than three points. A breakaway dunk by Williams fired up the crowd and gave Duquesne a 30-29, but it was short-lived.

“This team has high character,” Dambrot said. “They showed that tonight, even when things weren’t going great. I yanked Easley from the lineup after two defensive mistakes and never put him back in. He never said a word. That wouldn’t have happened last year.”

The second half began with much of the same flow before Duquesne, behind a combined 22 points from Williams and Spears, took control.

The game marked the official opener for fans, but it wasn’t Duquesne’s first game at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, named for former Duquesne great Chuck Cooper.

That occurred Feb. 2 — the first of two games last season at the new building following its long-awaited completion — as Duquesne beat Dayton, 69-64, with limited fans in attendance.