Duquesne defeats VCU behind Jimmy Clark III’s career night
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Jimmy Clark III might have had one destination (Northwest Florida) in between his current team and Virginia Commonwealth, for whom he played from 2019-21, but that didn’t stop the Duquesne junior guard from lighting up the Rams, his former squad, Wednesday evening at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
By game’s end, with Duquesne (12-4, 2-1 Atlantic 10) defeating the visiting Rams, 79-70, Clark had erupted for a career-high 26 points, having gone 10 of 17 from the field with five steals.
Throughout the evening, Clark was Duquesne’s spark plug, scoring the ball at close range, hitting timely 3-pointers and thwarting all attempts by VCU to shut him down.
Suffice to say, Clark produced more than a handful of impressive moments in helping to elevate the Dukes to victory.
He also proved to have a showman’s instinct for flair. With just over five minutes left in the second half and Duquesne leading, 75-59, Clark managed a steal in the defensive zone.
As he moved upcourt toward VCU’s basket, he was all alone, with zero defenders anywhere near him.
Not one for a simple layup, Clark underhand-tossed the ball off the backboard and slammed a dunk off the feed to himself, much to the approval of the home crowd.
While coach Keith Dambrot was less than impressed, with the game being far from over and VCU attempting to stick around, he couldn’t help but appreciate Clark’s overall performance.
“I’ve never had a guy throw a ball off the backboard, which drove me nuts,” he said. “With Tre Clark, you’ve got to live with some of his nonsense because his nonsense is both good and bad sometimes. … (VCU) has a team full of athletes, but he looked like he was on another level.
“Every time the game got close, he made an unbelievable play. I’m happy for him.”
Clark has now contributed double-digit totals in nine straight games for the Dukes dating back to Dec. 3.
In that time, he has averaged 16.7 points per game, helping Duquesne get off to a strong start this season.
As for Wednesday’s game, Clark admitted he’d been looking forward to it.
“If I’m being honest, I had this marked on my calendar since the day I committed (to Duquesne),” Clark said. “This was a big game for me.”
The Dukes came out swinging early on and, with baskets by Clark and Dae Dae Grant, took a 14-6 lead at the first media timeout.
From there, for just over six minutes, the Rams were held scoreless, by which time Duquesne had built a 20-6 lead with a bit under 11 minutes left before halftime.
The Dukes led by as much as 22 in the first half and took a 37-22 lead into halftime.
VCU attempted to hang around at multiple points in the second half, early and notably with about two minutes to play, coming within striking distance. But in each case, the Dukes managed to keep up the offensive pressure and maintain a lead of relative comfort.
Toward the end of the game, when the Rams had rallied to within nine points, an alley-oop from Grant to Joe Reece put Duquesne back up by 11, 79-68, with 2:10 to go.
Behind Clark, Grant scored 13 points, with R.J. Gunn having a nice performance off the bench, also contributing 13 points, nine of which came via 3-pointers.
Notably, Duquesne managed to largely shut down VCU star point guard Ace Baldwin, who entered Wednesday evening averaging 13 points per game.
Clark, Tevin Brewer and Kareem Rozier wound up rotating on Baldwin, who was limited to two points in the first half and finished with 10 on 3 of 10 shooting.
“We did a good job on him,” Dambrot said. “I think that was the key to the game. If he has his normal game, we’re probably in trouble.”