In the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship game, Duquesne was winning by 15 points at Barclays Center, and red, white, and blue streamers were falling from the ceiling to celebrate their first NCAA Tournament bid in 47 years.
However, there was still about 18 minutes of play time remaining.
Jimmy Clark III, Dae Dae Grant, coach Keith Dambrot, and Duquesne eventually celebrated their victory over fifth-seeded VCU with a 57-51 score, earning their first invite to March Madness since 1977.
For the sixth-seeded Dukes (24-11), who started the conference season with a five-game losing streak, the tough path is their only familiar experience.
Clark, who contributed nine points and made four free throws in the final 21 seconds, said, “We have been in this situation before, so we knew exactly what to do.”
Despite scoring only 21 points and making 5 of 29 field goals in the second half, Duquesne, a small Catholic school in Pittsburgh, will enter the Big Dance with an eight-game winning streak.
Dambrot mentioned, “Throughout the year, we have excelled on the defensive end. Our offensive performance has been inconsistent.”
The 65-year-old Dambrot, who coached LeBron James for two years in high school, and the Dukes matched a program record for victories set in 1953-54, when Dambrot’s father, Sid, played for Duquesne.
LeBron James celebrated DuqMBB’s achievement by posting, “YESSIRRR!! Punch that (ticket) to the Big Dance DuqMBB!!!” on X.
The last time Duquesne won the A-10 and went to the NCAA Tournament, future NBA All-Star Norm Nixon was leading the Dukes, who beat Villanova in the conference title game.
In 2017, Dambrot left the University of Akron, where he guided the Zips to the NCAA Tournament three times in 13 years, to take over Duquesne, a program that was close to his heart but lacked a significant history of success.
Dambrot expressed, “I knew it was going to be challenging, especially when we’re building off of limited tradition.”
Joe Bamisile, with 20 points, led VCU (22-13), which sought to defend its A-10 tournament championship title.
“Two teams competing for a championship, it doesn’t look pretty,” Bamisile said. “It was just an ugly game on both sides.”
Following Clark’s free throws, Fouysseyni Drame made two shots, putting the Dukes ahead 55-48.
A long 3-pointer from Zeb Jackson with 9.9 seconds left gave VCU a glimpse of hope, but the Rams fouled Jakub Necas as the Dukes struggled to inbound the ball. However, he missed both shots.
When Clark made two more free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining, the Duquesne fans were finally able to celebrate.
Grant led the Dukes with 10 points, all scored in the first half, and was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
The Dukes were up by 15 early in the second half when the game had to be temporarily stopped due to the falling streamers. The game was paused for about three minutes for clean-up, and most of the streamers landed on press row courtside, including CBS play-by-play man Kevin Harlan and partner Dan Bonner, with a few reaching the floor.
A-10 officials explained that the streamers and confetti used for the postgame celebration are red, white and blue regardless of the winning team, to match the conference logo. They said a technical problem caused them to fall too early.
Possibly, the early celebration invited bad luck, as the Dukes went seven minutes without scoring. They struggled at the start of the second half, making only 1 of 15 shots from the field.
Dambrot, who confessed to being a superstitious ex-baseball player, mentioned that he was unbothered by the potential jinx.
Dambrot stated, "I was the most relaxed I’ve ever been. I just tried to enjoy it for the first time in my life."
Dambrot has faced a difficult season off the court as his wife, Donna, has been battling breast cancer.
Keith Dambrot stated that the four tournament games at Barclays were the first Donna has attended all season.
Finally, Duquesne managed to find some offense to fend off the Rams, and Necas made a 3 from the wing with 4:35 left to extend the lead to 49-41.
The Rams put in one more effort.
Jackson made a 3-pointer for the Rams with 2:12 remaining to reduce Duquesne’s lead to 49-46 and, after forcing a turnover, Bamisile made two free throws to bring it to one point with 1:34 left. That was as close as VCU would get.
“It’s unbelievable to be able to come here and make history,” Clark said.
UP NEXT
VCU will hope for an NIT bid.
Duquesne will head to the NCAA Tournament as the only team from Pittsburgh in the field.
