Duquesne rolls into Cooper Fieldhouse, defeats Dayton, 69-64

On a historic night when Duquesne christened the new $45 million UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse with a 69-64 victory against Dayton, it wasn’t clear what was most important to coach Keith Dambrot.

• The final score, which marked Duquesne’s fourth victory in the past five games and nudged the Dukes (7-6, 6-5 Atlantic 10) over .500 for the first time in a month.

• Or, the name on the outside of the building, overlooking Forbes Avenue in bright lights, a lasting testament to Chuck Cooper, a Duquesne All-American who was the first Black player drafted into the NBA.

In the middle of his postgame news conference, Dambrot stopped talking about the victory and called Cooper “the Jackie Robinson of the NBA.”

“That name on the building means a lot to me,” said Dambrot, whose father Sid played at Duquesne in the 1950s immediately after Cooper. “I know what Duquesne stood for and what they believed in. I know the history of Duquesne better than most.”

History is what Dambrot and his players are trying to write, and beating Dayton, the defending conference champion, is a small step in that direction.

“This win is big time,” said senior Marcus Weathers, who scored 20 points. “Just because I know in my career here at Duquesne, it’s been pretty tough going toe to toe with Dayton.

“To beat them in a desirable fashion speaks a lot about our guys and a lot of the growth they made in the short couple of months we’ve been together.”

After starting the conference season 2-4, losing three starters and playing every home game at somebody else’s home, the Dukes are climbing the ladder of respectability. The game was Duquesne’s first on campus in almost two years.

The Dukes are winning with seniors Weathers, who is averaging 15 points per game, and center Michael Hughes, who recorded his fourth double-double in the past five games (13 points while matching a career high with 14 rebounds).

They were the stars of the show, hitting 12 of 21 shots. But they are the experienced players, and the Dukes are built on their toughness and ability to excel in the paint.

But Dambrot has been using freshmen Mike Bekelja, Andre Harris, Toby Okani, Chad Baker and Tyson Acuff in important minutes for most of the season.

“I don’t want to brag,” Dambrot said. “I don’t think many programs could do what we’ve done. We’re playing a lot of young guys.

“It doesn’t seem like we missed a beat. We did for a while, which is understandable. We’ve been pretty resilient and tough.”

Bekelja, a 6-foot-1 guard, has started the past three games – all victories – and the Dukes have trailed for only 4½ of those 120 minutes. Against Dayton, he played 26 minutes with only one turnover. He was an important ball-handler when Dayton applied an intense full-court press and trimmed a 22-point lead with nine minutes left to five at the buzzer.

“The thing about Mikey is he’s sturdy and he’s willing,” Dambrot said. “His stat line looks horrible (two points on 0- for-2 shooting), but ever since we’ve played him, we’ve won. That’s not a coincidence.

“He doesn’t care about anything else, except winning. He has no basketball agenda. He’s moved the ball. He’s defended. He’s tough. Some guys are winners.”

The four other freshmen combined for 27 points, including Baker’s 3-pointer 41 seconds into the game, which was the first basket in the Cooper Fieldhouse.

Dambrot is aware the Dukes still have plenty of work to do if they want to carry their current success into March.

“We’re going to get punched in the mouth again,” he said. “We’re going to have to rally ourselves at the end. If we shoot the ball a little better, we have a lot of really good pieces.”

The inability to make shots almost let Dayton claim an incredible comeback. The Dukes shot 57.1% in the first half (16 of 28), but 36% after halftime (9 of 25, including 0 for 7 from beyond the 3-point line).

Dambrot said his team’s mental toughness has improved, but he’d like to see a better finish than he saw Tuesday.

“We did some good things. Good defensively in the first half. Got a little tired,” he said. “Thought we had some shots to knock them out in the last six minutes and didn’t make any of them. Have to play better at crunch time.”

Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.