Los Angeles Lakers superstar Lebron James has great ties to the Duquesne basketball program and they continue to show, especially Saturday afternoon during their 70-60 victory over St. Bonaventure in the A-10 Semifinals.
James posted an Instagram story that he soon deleted, showing him watching the game on the CBS Sports Network prior to his team meeting with the Lakers at 2:30 p.m. pacific standard time. This allowed him to watch almost the entirety of the game, as the contest finished at around 5:35 eastern standard time.
Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot coached Lebron James at St. Mary-St. Vincent High School in Akron, Ohio in his first two seasons of high school in the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons. Dambrot helped James realize his greatness during that time, winning two State Championships, with those teams receiving national attention from the media and landing in national rankings.
Dambrot has kept his relationship with James, despite leaving to coach Akron and then Duquesne. He has his former high school teammate Dru Joyce III as associate head coach in his second season. Dambrot also offered his son, Bryce James, the first school to do so for the talented recruit in the Class of 2025 back in August 2022.
James also praised Dambrot when he won his 500th game last season and even made a video that Duquesne posted on their Twitter account.
The Dukes made it to their first A-10 Title game since 2009 with the win against the Bonnies. Senior guards in Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark III spurred the team to victory, as Grant shot 10-for-15 from the field and 6-for-9 from 3-point range for a team-high 27 points and Clark scored 18 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the field, while dishing out six assists and making three steals for the Dukes.
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