In a league where the standings can change on a single result, every game matters for Dru Joyce and his Duquesne Dukes squad. They brought the intensity early and often on Wednesday night, leading to a 73-64 triumph over the Fordham Rams at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
The Dukes had five players in double figures, and David Dixon led the charge with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Duquesne forced 18 turnovers and made the Rams pay with 15 points off of them.
We always want to play aggressive,” Duquesne guard Matus Hronsky said postgame. “Our coach always says that ‘defense wins championships’.
“That’s where we try to get better…we’re not going to be perfect, but we try to force turnovers and we try to go to fast break and easy points for more.”
The teams were even after the first half buzzer sounded, but things didn’t start that way. Fordham got going early via Jackie Johnson III, who scored 7 of his 20 points in the first 2:57 of the half. Fordham’s largest lead came as a 17-10 advantage with 13:39 left. But the Dukes straggled their way back, eventually carving out a 3-point lead when Tre Dinkins III connected from downtown. Dinkins had a rough shooting night, going 3/10 from the field, but he still found a way to get into double figures with 13 points.
With the score even at 31 entering the second half, Duquesne made a big run that turned the game in their favor for good. They opened up the half with a 15-6 run in the first 5:05. Jahsean Corbett converted on two straight fastbreak layups to force Fordham Head Coach Keith Urgo to call a timeout. This enabled them to build a 9 point lead, a lead that Fordham did chip away at a bit. But the closest they got was four after a pull up jumper from Johnson.
This was Johnson’s first game back in Pittsburgh since he left for UNLV in 2022. He played for two seasons in the Mountain West before returning to the A-10 this year. Despite the gap in time since he last played for Duquesne, the familiarity was there tonight.
Among the players in double figures was Cam Crawford, who’s crucial lapse of judgement at the end of the Dayton game just a few days prior hurt the team in the end. However, the Dukes lifted him up and Crawford rewarded that with a 13 point effort tonight in the win.
“We came together in that locker room after that loss,” Dixon said. He didn’t want to go out like that…we told him that it’s okay, we’re going through that with you.
“The first thing is, I made everyone sit up in the locker room,” Joyce recalled after the Dayton loss. “Like sometimes after defeats, you got guys who want to lay out and head dropped. I made everyone sit up, eyes up straight in the chair.
“I know no one’s pulling the plug on anything, right? And I don’t want that type of vibe we got to get to the next game. And then, for me, it was about not letting Cam shoulder the load of that play…he obviously didn’t know what was going on, and I’ll take some of that blame.”
The Dukes have five games remaining on their A-10 schedule, with the next two on the road coming against teams like La Salle and St. Bonaventure who have slightly weaker records than them. After that, they face the #1 and #2 teams in the A-10, those being George Mason and VCU. They round things out with a road test against Saint Louis.
We got to continue to turn it up,” Joyce said. “And you have to embrace this time. I’ve been around a lot of basketball on teams, and it can go either way, right? You can fake it and act like you’re really into it and really go flat. You can completely tank and say you’re done with it, and that’ll show up too. Or you can embrace the moment, love the opportunity. Don’t take these moments for granted.
