Duquesne holds off late rally by La Salle to get crucial A-10 win

If Duquesne was to keep pace with the Atlantic 10 leaders Sunday, a victory was a must.

Mission accomplished.

Marcus Weathers scored 18 points, and Duquesne held off a furious La Salle rally to come away with a 71-69 victory at PPG Paints Arena.

It ended a three-game losing streak for Duquesne and enabled the Dukes to climb back into a five-way tie for third place in the cramped A-10 standings.

“It’s big for us,” said Weathers, who shot 8 for 10 with three rebounds, three assists and three blocks. “A win’s a win, whether it’s by two points, four points, 10 points, any double-digit score. We’re just going take this win and build off it and just keep working hard in practice.”

Duquesne (16-5, 6-3) is part of the third-place logjam with Saint Louis, Richmond, VCU and St. Bonaventure, three games behind No. 7 Dayton and two in back of second-place Rhode Island.

The Dukes, who extended La Salle’s losing streak to eight, will visit Saint Louis on Wednesday, looking for a series sweep of the Billikens, whom they defeated, 73-59, on Jan. 2 at Robert Morris’ UPMC Events Center.

La Salle (10-11, 1-8) trailed for nearly the entire time but made it close at the end. The Explorers closed within three on a three-point play by Ed Crosswell with 47 seconds remaining and had a chance to tie it with 1.1 seconds left when Duquesne’s Sincere Carry fouled David Beatty on a 3-point attempt.

“I thought he got him before he shot it, but I could be wrong. We’ll look at the tape,” Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said.

Duquesne’s fans were restless after the call and anxious as Beatty stepped to the free-throw line. But after he made the first attempt to pull La Salle within two, he missed the next two, and Duquesne escaped after being outscored 7-0 over the final 1 minute, 52 seconds.

“About everything that could go wrong, went wrong,” Dambrot said. “Everything we did … we just had some bad luck. They got an open look, and then we didn’t rebound the ball. We didn’t rebound the ball. That’s what happens.”

La Salle freshman Brandon Stone, the former Southmoreland star, who played his final two high school seasons at Arden (N.C.) Christ School, launched a 3-point attempt with 14 seconds to go that rimmed out, and the Explorers secured the rebound. They worked for another open look, but Carry caught Beatty in the act of shooting to send him to the line.

“I thought it was a smart play,” Dambrot said of Carry’s foul. “But the referees said the guy was on an upward motion.”

La Salle’s late flurry was fueled by a technical foul call on Duquesne’s Michael Hughes, keeping the possession with the Explorers.

Tavian Dunn-Martin scored all 12 of his points on 4-of-8 shooting from behind the arc for Duquesne. His 3-point shooting was a much-needed boost for a team seeking some consistent outside scoring.

Duquesne entered the day as one of the A-10’s poorest 3-point shooting teams at 31.7%. Only St. Joseph’s and George Mason (each at 30.7) were worse. The Dukes finished the day shooting 50.9% overall (28 for 55) and 34.8% from behind the arc (8 for 23).

Duquesne’s defense, which came in second best in the A-10 by limiting opponents to an average of 63.2 points per game, showed signs of taking over, but La Salle hung around, partly on the strength of a 40-31 advantage in rebounding.

The Dukes held the Explorers scoreless for two long stretches, one in each half.

In the second half, they maintained a double-digit lead for much of the time by keeping the Explorers off the board for a period of 4:13.

La Salle cut the Duquesne lead to 69-62 on two free throws by Beatty with 2:54 to go.

After Weathers’ dunk ended La Salle’s 5-0 run, Hughes scored on a jumper to push the Duquesne lead to 71-62.

Lamar Norman Jr., who was 3 for 6 from 3-point range, also scored 12 points for Duquesne. Carry added 10 points to go with a career-high tying nine assists and six rebounds, and Baylee Steele contributed nine points and a team-high eight rebounds for the Dukes.

Beatty led La Salle with 16 points. Crosswell added 10 points to go with a game-high 12 rebounds, and Scott Spencer also scored 10 points.

Duquesne achieved its first double-digit lead on a Weathers layup to make it 44-33 with 16:39 left, and it looked like the Dukes would continue to run.

“It should have been a 15-point game, but we made some mistakes late in the game because we were getting tired,” Dambrot said. “We made 15 turnovers, and I’ll bet 10 of them were in the last 10 minutes of the game. Seven guys isn’t enough to play. We’ve got to play more than seven guys.”

Dambrot said sophomore big man Austin Rotroff was ill and wasn’t available and he held out freshman Ashton Miller in favor of his smaller, quicker, experienced backcourt players.

“La Salle is scrappy. Give that team credit,” Dambrot said. “It’s a double-edged sword. We’re better off to play the other guys, but you’ve got to talk yourself into it.”

A Dunn-Martin 3-pointer handed Duquesne a 22-21 lead with 8:15 left in the first half, and the Dukes held La Salle scoreless for 5:25 while using a 13-4 run to build a 32-23 lead.

They settled for a 36-29 advantage at the half.