PITTSBURGH – Dae Dae Grant posted a game-high 23 points as Duquesne (5-1) capitalized on a 14-0 second-half run to earn a 75-57 win over Alabama State (0-6) at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.
Quincy McGriff scored eight of his eleven points in the decisive run. Austin Rotroff notched his first career double-double (12-10) and added a career-high four blocks behind the bench to help Duquesne extend his winning streak to four.
student in the first year David Dixon had five blocks for the Dukes, who finished with a season-high 11 rejections.
Duquesne led 27-25 late in the first half before Grant – who had 13 in the opening 20 minutes – started a 10-3 run with a 3-pointer. Jimmy Clark III buried another 3-pointer on the first half horn to give DU their biggest lead at 37-28.
Neither team led Grant’s 3-pointer by more than four points.
Duquesne took his first double-digit lead on two Grant free throws that made it 41-30 early in the second half.
DU led 44-39 before McGriff sparked a 14-0 run with a 3-pointer. The first-year JC transfer found Grant at the baseline for a layup and followed up with a jumper and a 3-pointer to end the run that made it 58-39 by 10 minutes.
ASU never got closer than 16 the rest of the way.
The Dukes overtook the Hornets by 46.4 percent to 31.1 percent.
Duquesne will remain idle until UC Santa Barbara visits the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Tuesday, November 29 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+).
REMARKS
- The Dukes are one win away from matching last season’s overall win (6-24).
- The Dukes finished with 11 blocked shots, including five through David Dixon. The effort was four shy of the school record.
- Austin Rotroff scored his first career double-double (12-10). His 12 points was a season high. He also had a career-high four blocks in 27 minutes.
- student in the first year Karem Rozier came off the bench and dished out four team-high assists in 16 minutes with no turnover. Rozier has 13 assists and a turnover in 80 minutes of the season.
- Duquesne is 20-5 in home non-conference games since 2018-19.
- This was the second of nine straight home games for the Dukes.
- Forward Joe Reece (injured), RJ Gunn (injured) and Kevin Easley (team suspension) were all out of uniform for the second game in a row. It was the third game in a row that Gunn and Easley missed.
- Duquesne’s biggest lead was 25, at 68-43, with 5:40 left… Alabama State’s biggest lead was two, the last of which came at 17-15 with 8:26 in the first half…there was five draws and 10 lead changes Austin Rotroff gave the Dukes the ultimate lead on two free throws making it 20-19 with 6:48 in the first half…Alabama State led for 2:28…Duquesne led for 35:09.