The Duquesne Dukes finally figured out how to beat the Richmond Spiders, picking up a hard-earned 81-72 victory at the A.J. Palumbo Center Saturday night.
↵The win was a long time coming for the Dukes (14-9, 5-4 A10) who snapped the 14-game losing streak to the Spiders (12-12, 3-6 A10) in front of a sell-out crowd of 4,481.
↵Duquesne was able to achieve the win with hustle and solid rebounding. The Dukes scored 24 points off of 16 Richmond turnovers while winning the battle on the glass 39-31.
↵After exploding for a 9-0 run out of the gate, the Dukes continued to pressure and out-hustle the Spiders relentlessly. Duquesne would survive a Spider run late in the half to take a 35-31 lead into the locker room thanks to outscoring Richmond 15-1 in points off turnovers.
↵In the second half, the Dukes would tighten up the perimeter defense and saw their lead grow to as much as 16 when Duquesne led 57-41 with 8:23 to play.
↵Richmond was able to cut the deficit to 10 with 3:21 to play on a Rich Sparrow three pointer but back-to-back treys from Eric Evans and Jerry Jones on the ensuing possessions put them back up by 16.
↵The inability for the Dukes to hit their foul shots allowed the Spiders to hang around, as Duquesne shot a paltry 18-for-31 from the foul line. Richmond was able to make it 76-67 with 57 seconds to play. Another Richmond three cut the Duquesne lead to 79-72 with 38 seconds to play, but the deficit was too much for the Spiders to overcome.
↵Evans would lead the Dukes with 17 points and was able to hit his first three-point shot at the A.J. Palumbo Center since December 28. Four other Dukes were able to reach double figures including Sean Johnson and Jerry Jones with 14 points each, T.J. McConnell with 11 and B.J. Monteiro with 10.
↵Kendall Anthony had a game-high 21 points for Richmond while shooting a red-hot 5-for-7 from behind the arc. Derrick Williams also had a fine game, scoring 16 points while making 6-of-8 shots from the field. Cedric Lindsay chimed in with 11 points and 11 assists but struggled to shoot from the outside, shooting 0-8 from behind the arc despite bringing a 42 percent clip from deep into the contest.
↵Duquesne will look to continue their winning ways next Saturday in Olean, NY against St. Bonaventure at 4:00 PM. The Dukes defeated the Bonnies 66-52 in the first meeting between the two teams back on January 7.