DOWN GOES BYU! - Duquesne Wins 71-67
DOWN GOES BYU!!! The Dukes took down BYU in round one, 71-67, to keep the ball rolling a little bit longer.
What a damn game that was. The 11th seed Duquesne Dukes were an afterthought, before rifling off eight straight wins and winning the Atlantic 10 Championship. Today, they made it nine straight against the 6th-seeded Cougars and their first tournament win since 1969.
BYU came into this game as one of the best three-point shooting teams in the nation. Thankfully, the Dukes have been playing their best defense as of late, and they did a phenomenal job running the BYU players off the three-point line. Coach Dambrot said it best during the post-game press conference: “I think the score pretty much says exactly why we won.” And it does. BYU is an extremely high scoring team, especially when they get hot.
Duquesne was smackin’ hands on the floor, running guys off the three-point line, forcing turnovers, and getting blocks down low. The Dukes had seven steals and seven blocks, which was ahbsolutely crucial to this win. They were able to win the turnover battle and get more points off turnovers, as well as more fast break points, which surely played perfectly into their gameplan. But, most importantly, they held BYU to 8-24 from the three-point line, which was enough to hold them off and secure the win.
Jakub Necas had a big first half, scoring eight points, including two crucial three pointers. He finished the game with 12 points off the bench, which, coincidentally, was his highest scoring output of the entire season. The stars of the game, though, were Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark. Grant finished with 19 points, which included four crucial free throws in the final seconds of the game. Jimmy Clark was a MENACE on defense, coming up with four steals, including a big one in the final minutes of the game that led to a transition dunk. He also hit three clutch free throws late in the game, which helped to hold off BYU.
I have to give a big shahtaht to Jaxson Robinson from BYU. He finished with 25 points, and shot over 50% from the field. He seemed unstoppable at times, but thankfully, the Dukes were able to keep the ball out of his hands at the end of the game.
Coach Dambrot’s retirement will have to wait a little bit longer, as Duquesne will take on the winner of the Morehead State (No. 14) vs. Illinois (No. 3) game. As a guy that lives in Central Illinois, I would ahbsolutely LOVE to watch Duquesne knock off the Fighting Illini. We’ll see how it shakes out! Congrats to the Dukes!
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