Duquesne's Tevin Brewer hits floater with 1 second left to defeat North Florida, 83-82

Keith Dambrot will gladly accept Duquesne’s 83-82 victory Monday night against North Florida.

It was his team’s fourth in five games, and Duquesne now has a chance to come out of November with as many victories (six) as the Dukes managed through the entirety of the 2021-2022 season.

But Dambrot always will demand better defense than what he saw from the Dukes on the floor of the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

“We have to play better defensively than that,” he said. “They made some, but we made a lot of mistakes.”

North Florida (1-3) came into the game shooting 35.9% from the field, but kept up a 60% pace well into the second half and finished at 58% (29 of 50).

But what pleased the six-year Duquesne coach more than anything was his brief conversation with freshman guard Kareem Rozier after the game.

Rozier played only 12 minutes, but he was willing to shoulder the blame for an overall effort that wasn’t up to standards.

“He came up to me and said, `That’s my bad. We didn’t practice well and it’s all on me.’

“You don’t get that very often,” Dambrot said. “But that’s the kind of leader he is.”

When Dambrot was asked how he likes this reconstructed team that has 10 new players, he said, ““I think we have good resiliency. We have good leadership. About everything that could go wrong went wrong and we still hung in there. Those are the kind of games you have to win to have a good season. You have to win some games when you’re not great. We should have lost the game, really, but we hung in there enough to win the game.”

He also likes his team from a more personal point of view.

“I think they get along, which always helps you win,” he said. “If you don’t get along, eventually you’re going to lose some of those close games.”

The game-winner was a floater from the right foul line by point guard Tevin Brewer, only his second basket of the game, with one second left.

The play was set up when North Florida’s Jarius Hicklen missed a free throw with 13 seconds left, leaving only an 82-81 advantage. Austin Rotroff grabbed the rebound – his game-high eighth in only 18 ½ minutes — and triggered the Dukes’ final surge up the floor.

“We were supposed to get a timeout at half-court,” Brewer said. “But we just pushed it up the court, and then when Tre Williams passed the ball to me, I saw I had the lane. I’ve been missing the shot all game long, so I knew I had to make it up for my teammates.”

Dae Dae Grant led the Dukes with 26 points and six assists. Tre Williams, the only returning starter currently active, scored 13.

Brewer’s basket created the game’s 23rd lead change. There were eight in the final four minutes. The score was tied 16 times and neither team led by more than the eight-point advantage North Florida built in the first half.

Dambrot said later he didn’t call a timeout before the decisive shot because he trusts veteran guards Brewer and Grant to do the right thing. After all, the Dukes totaled 22 assists on 34 field goals, showing a willingness to share the basketball.

“We’ve done a really good job of passing the ball,” Dambrot said, noting that was one of his off-season goals.

“We weren’t happy after Kentucky (a 77-52 loss Nov. 11). We didn’t think we shared the ball well. We took some bad shots,” he said.

“We hit them hard on that. They’ve done a good job of listening and trying to get better.”

Currently, Duquesne’s depth is compromised with injuries to veteran bigs R.J. Gunn and Joe Reece and 6-foot-9 freshman Halil Barre.

Kevin Easley Jr., the other returning starter, has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. “He’ll be back,” Dambrot said. “But not for a minute.”

The situation thrust 6-9 freshman David Dixon into his first collegiate starting lineup, and he responded with 12 points and six rebounds.

“Dixon did some good things, but he did some inexperienced things,” Dambrot said. “When Reece and R.J play, that makes you older. The more you can be old, the better you are.

“We started this (season) with seven bigs. We have three right now. Obviously, it’s going to affect you.”

But that’s no excuse, he said. “We still have enough to win.”