Duquesne led as far as 21 points up against Queens College, but when you saw the end of the second half, the Dukes had to go into overtime.
The Dukes took down the Royals at home, in overtime, as coming up clutch was the name of the game.
“I knew once we went into overtime, you know, the game was kind of in our hands. You know, we built for this,” Hugley IV said. “We practiced like this, you know, we practice against each other hard every day, you know, just going to war with each other every day.”
Players like Jakub Necas had two big moments, the first being a three-point shot with 1:31 left in the second half. The second was a layup as the first bucket in overtime for the Dukes to give them the lead 77-75, in which they would not relinquish the rest of OT.
“I'm just trying to be myself, you know, and just play basketball and be healthy as much as I can on the court.” Necas said.
The shots were not falling for the Dukes for a while as they went 0-9 for three-point shots in the first half.
Queens was throwing tough looks as there seemed to be a difference in separation and spacing between the Dukes and Royals throughout the game.
“The second chance opportunities. Some of the turnovers led to some easy, some easy points, and run out for them,” Joyce III said. “But in all honesty, they, they tried to get their playmakers down here. Berman and man, they, they tried to remain patient, and they it just became dribble drive.”
This led to Queens making a rally throughout the entirety of the second half as the spacing, along with crucial mistakes from the Dukes, led to a Royals comeback.
One of the biggest moments of the game was the most monstrous slam from a Duke in a while as David Dixon brought the house down with a violent dunk with 9:11 left in the second half to keep the lead for the Dukes 64-52.
Duquesne would finally hit a three courtesy of Maximus Edwards after missing fourteen in a row to give them some life, but Queens had other plans. While not very efficient, they were throwing up many threes in volume, putting up 32 and draining nine of them.
This is a game that maybe last year the Dukes might’ve fallen short, but they didn’t give up, and five different players scored double digits to fight back the counterattack that the Royals were throwing at them.
“You know, I say the results are great. You know, I'm always taking the wins,” Joyce III said. “But what's important is, like you talked about, man, just how are we progressing? Right? How are we handling the challenges and adversity that come at us? And I'm gonna learn more when I go back and watch film, but, you know, I'm proud of the guys tonight.”
John Hugley IV scored 27, making it back-to-back contests that he was able to put up over 20 points, along with having a double-double.
“He makes sure everybody's involved,” Necas said. “He's a great, great, great player, great teammate, great brotherhood.”
Another significant contributor was Dom Akins, who was able to execute his dribbling and shot selection smoothly, going 5-for-7 and scoring 12 points in a game where every play mattered.
“I love him so much, you know, just his belief and, you know, his confidence and his growth.” Hugley IV said. “You know, not probably every game we step out there, he's probably going to be the littlest person. But, you know, his heart just takes him to an unbelievable level.”
For Queens, it was mainly the Yoav Berman show as he scored 22, including a clutch three with 35 seconds left in overtime to keep the score at one possession.
The Dukes were able to fight back and keep the Royals from pulling off a big upset at home, showcasing resilience, as seen in Terance Guinyard, who may not have had his best night. He went 0-for-4 at the free-throw line, but when they needed him the most, he was able to pull up and drain back-to-back free throws to come through with 42 seconds left in overtime.
The Dukes will get their first big test as they will be heading on the road Saturday to Philadelphia to take on Villanova in their first game against a team in the top 100 in KenPom rankings (43 for Villanova) to improve to their best start, 4-0, since the 2011-2012 season.
This game looks like it will be a coming-home party for Hugley IV as he played Villanova when he was in the Big East back at Xavier, so he is looking forward to this contest.
“Like I've been cutting it out all my life. You know,” Hugley IV said. “So just going to note that chip on their shoulder, I feel like you know, like I said before, I don't think any team practices as hard as we do in the country.”
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