Duquesne rallies in second half to top Loyola Chicago, 72-58
Staring at a nine-point halftime deficit against Loyola Chicago, a team that entered Wednesday night in last place in the Atlantic 10, Duquesne was at risk of suffering a deflating loss, which would have been its third straight.
However, steadily, the Dukes mounted a comeback, outscoring the visiting Ramblers by 23 in the second half en route to a 72-58 victory at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy “Tre” Clark III tied for the team lead with 13 points apiece. Clark exited the game for about four minutes in the first half with an apparent right knee injury but returned and did not appear limited .
R.J. Gunn contributed 12 points off the bench.
Duquesne (14-7, 4-4 Atlantic 10) had trouble slowing down the Ramblers’ Philip Alston early, as he scored 17 first-half points, en route to 25 on the night.
“The mentality of the second half was just lock down your man,” said graduate point guard Tevin Brewer, who scored 10 points in the win. “We knew we were down a double-digit deficit, so we knew we had to get stops. … I feel like we accomplished that.”
To Brewer’s point, in the second half, the Dukes held Loyola Chicago to 18 points.
Duquesne looked ready to go as the second half got underway, with Joe Reece and Brewer hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to trim Loyola Chicago’s lead to three at the 18:18 mark.
About five minutes later, the Dukes had retaken the lead for the first time since the opening minute, with a Gunn jumper putting them ahead 41-40 with 13:25 to play.
The Ramblers didn’t get their first field goal of the second half for nearly 7 minutes.
“The key to the game was the first four minutes in the second half,” coach Keith Dambrot said. “Had it gone the other direction, we lose. … We hit a 3 immediately, so we’re right in it. That changed kind of the mental foil of the game.”
With 5:45 remaining, the score was tied 54-54. But two straight buckets from Grant gave Duquesne a 59-54 lead and with 1:27 to play, and a 3-pointer from Gunn proved to be the dagger.
Justin Guerriero is a TribLive reporter covering the Penguins, Pirates and college sports. A Pittsburgh native, he is a Central Catholic and University of Colorado graduate. He joined the Trib in 2022 after covering the Colorado Buffaloes for Rivals and freelancing for the Denver Post. He can be reached at jguerriero@triblive.com.
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