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Eric James came up big down the stretch for Duquesne.
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Duquesne men hold off Loyola Maryland

John Heller/Post-Gazette

Duquesne men hold off Loyola Maryland

Coach Jim Ferry gathered his Duquesne players around him with 1:07 to play, looking to secure a three-point lead against Loyola Maryland in the season opener Friday night at Palumbo Center.

He would say very little.

“To be perfectly honest, it was more them talking than me,” the fifth-year coach said. “They were locked in.”

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What came next was an inspired effort, led by forward Eric James. The 6-foot-6 junior not only preserved a possession by grabbing a rebound off a missed jumper, but also made the clinching free throws in a 65-60 victory.

James’ veteran presence offered a calming effect for a team that features seven newcomers and four first-year starters. He provided 7 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists in 20 minutes.

“My job is to come in and bring energy and push the young guys to do the same thing,” said James, who got to the free-throw line with 11 seconds left after hustling for a loose ball and drawing a foul.

When asked about his rebound on graduate-transfer Emile Blackman’s miss with 67 seconds to go, James said, simply: “I saw the ball, and I knew I had to go get it.”

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Duquesne is looking to “go get” more such victories, the kind in which a variety of players contribute. Of the eight Dukes who played 19 minutes or more, each contributed a minimum of six points.

Guard Tarin Smith, a transfer from Nebraska who sat out last season, was the only Dukes player to hit double digits. He scored a team-high 13 points, to go with 3 assists, 2 blocks and 1 steal. He also spent much of the evening guarding preseason first-team All-Patriot League pick Andre Walker.

The latter finished with 21 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field. The defensive effort was “OK,” Smith said, but he knows he has a way to go.

“I started settling in,” said Smith, who practiced fewer than 10 times in the offseason due to a torn meniscus. “My role is to come in and defend the top guys and I want to do that at a top level. ... It was fun to be out there, it’s been like forever.”

As Duquesne looks to establish an identity after losing top scorers Micah Mason and Derrick Colter from last season’s 17-17 team, Ferry said his lineup can change from game to game. Chemistry, he said, does not happen overnight.

“I thought this was an early season, ugly basketball game,” he said. “We’re not very good right now. When you’re playing all these new guys, it’s a process. We just have to focus on ourselves and get better every day. But, I thought we had some great efforts all the way around.”

Duquesne won several statistical categories, including rebounding (43-29), blocks (12-8) and, most notably, bench scoring (23-3). The latter caught Ferry’s eye.

“We have depth,” he said. “I said all along that I like this group.”

The Dukes will have more depth down the road once forward Kale Abrahamson and guard Josh Steel return. Abrahamson, a graduate transfer who averaged 11.9 points at Drake last season, is out “probably six weeks,” Ferry said, after suffering a fractured hand in an exhibition game Saturday. Steel has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules.

Another graduate transfer, Blackman, had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals in his Duquesne debut. Sports Illustrated projects him to be the highest scoring transfer this season, based on Blackman’s 15.8 points-per-game average at Niagara last season.

“This was just the beginning for a lot of guys,” Ferry said.

First-game jitters got the best of the Dukes at the outset. Loyola raced to leads of 9-2 and 13-7 early before Ferry’s new-look team settled in. A rebound and layup by Nakye Sanders fueled a 10-0 run that gave Duquesne a 17-13 advantage nearly eight minutes into the game.

A driving layup by Blackman, a hook by Sanders and a 3-pointer by freshman reserve Spencer Littleson highlighted the surge. Duquesne went into intermission with a 36-32 lead.

Loyola — led by coach G.G. Smith, son of the legendary Tubby Smith (now at Memphis) — used an 8-0 run early in the second half to take a 40-38 lead. The Greyhounds later led, 48-46, before a 3-pointer by Littleson gave the Dukes the lead for good with nearly 10 minutes to play.

Duquesne will try to ride the momentum of this victory as the schedule heats up. It plays five games in the next 10 days, beginning Sunday at Penn State.

“We have a way to go,” Ferry said. “But we saw some positives, and that’s what you want. You want to keep getting better as you get toward January and February.”

First Published: November 12, 2016, 5:56 a.m.

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