David Dixon Caps Off Duquesne's Largest Comeback in Program History on Senior Day
PITTSBURGH — The way that stories write themselves is fascinating and the one that presented itself during Duquesne’s regular season finale was nothing short of remarkable.
Duquesne (17-14, 9-9) found itself down by 30 points to Richmond (15-16, 5-13) with 6:01 left in the first half and it looked like they would close out the regular season on a five-game losing streak.
The combined efforts of Alex Williams (22 points), Terance Guinyard (16 points) and the fan-favorite senior David Dixon (17 points) did not let that happen as they willed the Dukes to their largest comeback in program and Atlantic-10 history. It is also just the fourth comeback of at least 30 points in Division-I history.
The historic comeback by the Dukes was not even the biggest part of the overall story. The way that the final chapter at Duquesne for the man that scored the game-winning bucket was.
“Honestly words can’t explain it,” Duquesne forward David Dixon said after the game. “ It’s just crazy. I didn’t it was gonna end that way to be honest, but I’m glad we ended up making our way back. I had belief that we were going to win the game, but I didn’t know how. So, I didn’t think it was going to end with me getting the tip in rebound but I’m just happy to have my career at the Cooper Fieldhouse end in a fashion like this.”
David Dixon stayed loyal to Duquesne through his four seasons of college basketball which is a rare occurrence these days. When he stepped foot on the court of the UPMC Rooney Fieldhouse on Saturday, it not only marked his final home game ever as a Duke but it also moved him into a tie for first place in Duquesne’s all-time games played list.
Dixon made sure that game No. 127 in his Duquesne uniform and his final at the Fieldhouse would be his most memorable as he was the man to win the game for the Dukes on a last-second tip in that took an official review to confirm that he got it off on time.
“It means everything to me, especially doing this in front of my family,” Dixon said. “It was my dad’s first game here since he had a stroke last year, so being able to win a game in front of him and playing as well as I did, it just meant the world to me. I’m trying not to cry right now just thinking about him.”
“Honestly, I think it’s probably the best way I could have ended my career, in my opinion,” Dixon concluded. “Coming back from a deficit, winning a big game and having everybody’s family’s there to see it. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Richmond came out of the gates firing on all cylinders while Duquesne did not. After the first couple of minutes, the Spiders led held a comfortable 20-8 lead and it only grew as they went on a lengthy 18-0 run.
By the six-minute mark, the Spiders lead was 40-10 and things looked bleak for the Dukes as they were 0-of-12 from three and not much better for inside the arc. Things started to change when Alex Williams sunk a trio of threes that helped start a 15-1 run for the Dukes.
Duquesne trimmed the once 30-point deficit down to 21 by halftime but with the way that Richmond was shooting on offense, it was going to take a nearly perfect second half for the Dukes to even have a chance.
The Spiders shot 20-of-30 in the first half which included eight three-pointers while the Dukes were just 11-of-30 with Williams’ trio of threes being the only long-range shots that went in.
Duquesne immediately started to chip away at the Richmond lead in the second half as Alex Williams and Jimmie Williams each scored two buckets each as part of a 10-0 run for the Dukes that helped bring the Spiders’ advantage down to just 12 at 53-41.
The Spiders finally stopped the streaking Dukes and managed to maintain a double-digit lead all the way until a second-straight layup by Maximus Edwards at the 4:13 mark made the score 72-64.
That is when the crowd at the Fieldhouse started to believe that the comeback was possible and they started to get loud for their Dukes.
A pair of free throws temporarily pushed the lead back to 10 but then the Guinyard show started as he scored nine-straight points for Duquesne including the team’s only three by somebody not named Alex Williams. His three came with just 1:54 remaining and cut the Dukes’ deficit down to just four at 77-73.
The Dukes managed to get key defensive stops inside of the last minute which led to free throws on the other end which Alex Williams sunk four in a row to tie the game up at 77 all.
After one last stop and timeout with just 16 seconds on the clock, Duquesne head coach Dru Joyce III dialed up a play call for Guinyard in which he chucked a last-second three up from the right wing but after it bounced off of the rim, Dixon came in to save the day with his spot-on tip with less than a second remaining.
“When when you got the ball in your hands in the tie game, you couldn’t ask for yourself to be in a better position with a chance to win the game on your home floor,” Joyce said. “Like Dave said, I didn’t know how it would and what fashion the win would come, but when we we got to that possession, I felt really, really good about us winning this basketball game right there in regulation.”
“Just credit to Dave. That’s a big time effort. Not watching the basketball, but going to attack it,” Joyce continued. “And good touch, too. It wasn’t a tip dunk this time. He had to put some touch on that basketball. Just a tremendous effort around the board from our guys.”
Not only did the comeback win snap the Dukes’ losing streak, but Joyce hopes that it also infused some momentum back into his team as they gear up to “defend the city” as the Atlantic-10 Tournament will be played at the PPG Paints Arena, just minutes away from Duquesne’s campus.
“This was our kind of that last moment for us to rally and you want to take some momentum into that tournament,” Joyce said. “It’s a true statement to make so we’re just looking to build off off of this moment. Try to capture the energy that’s in our locker room from our guys because I know they’re excited about what they just did, and they should be.”
“Let that excitement bleed into their focus and their confidence so we can continue to find ways to win games because this is survive and advance. We know exactly what we need and have to do. There’s no chance for us other than winning it so that’s what we’re going for.”
Duquesne officially clinched the seventh-seed in the Atlantic-10 Tournament and will play No. 10 Rhode Island at 5 p.m. on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena.
