‘Not a signature win’: Dambrot, Duquesne shoot higher than just (finally) beating Richmond
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Over the past quarter century, many Duquesne fans had come down with a case of arachnophobia. When the Dukes saw Spiders, bad things happened.
Keith Dambrot’s Dukes finally eradicated their personal pests with a 74-68 win at the Richmond Spiders on Wednesday, Duquesne’s first at Richmond since Dec. 20, 1993, a span of 11 games. Regardless of venue, the Dukes had lost their eight previous meetings with the Spiders and were 1-22 against them since Richmond joined the Atlantic 10.
But for all that victory meant to some associated with the program, almost all of the current Dukes players and coaches have been with the program 22 months at most. So the losing streak to Richmond didn’t resonate nearly as much to them.
“It’s funny. Our radio announcer, Ray Goss, has been here a 1,000 years,” Dambrot said of Goss, who has a five-decade tenure on The Bluff. “And he said to me, ‘Well, that’s a good signature win.’ And I said, ‘Ray, listen. It’s a good win, beating Richmond. We haven’t done it in a long time. But that’s not really what I have in mind as a signature win.’
“A signature win for me is winning the A-10 tournament. It’s beating a top-10 team. It’s winning in the NCAA Tournament. That’s where my goals are. Now, look, I am not downplaying the win at Richmond. It’s a good win. It’s a good win for a young team. But it’s not a signature win. So that’s how I feel about it.”
Ninety-four percent of Duquesne’s points this season have come from freshmen and sophomores. And one of the Dukes’ young players was as nonplussed as Dambrot was about ending the Richmond hex.
“I think it meant more to the school, like to the culture here,” freshman point guard Sincere Carry said. “I didn’t really know about (the losing streak) until I saw it on Twitter after the game.
“But, yeah, just to know that we accomplished that, it felt good.”
The Dukes (12-5, 3-1) play Sunday at George Washington (6-11, 2-2).
Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.