Feb. 27, 2014

Box Score | Photo Gallery

ST. LOUIS, MO. - Micah Mason scored a career-high 22 points and Jerry Jones added a season-high 19 off the bench as Duquesne posted its first road win over a Top 10 team since 1962, 71-64, over No. 10 (AP) Saint Louis at Chaifetz Arena.

The win both snapped a 19-game SLU (25-3, 12-1) win streak and prevented the Billikens from clinching a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title.

Mike McCall, Jr. led four Saint Louis players in double digits with 18 points.

Duquesne (12-15, 4-10), which suffered last-minute defeats at St. Bonaventure and at home to Dayton in its past two games, finished strong, making 12 of its last 15 shots after Saint Louis had taken its largest lead at 42-35 with just under 14 minutes left.

"We talked constantly this week about keeping our focus and our disposition defensively," said Duquesne coach Jim Ferry. "Saint Louis is such a good defensive team, you're going to have empty possessions. You can't keep your head down and you can't allow empty possessions to turn into points for them. I thought we did a really good job of that. I think we locked in defensively.

"This was very similar to the first game we played against Saint Louis [a 76-72 Billikens win that was decided in the final minute]. We tried to take away the interior and make them shoot threes."

Saint Louis went 4-of-23 from the 3-point arc.

Mason, who went 4-of-5 from 3-point, started Duquesne's game-closing run with a 30-foot 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer. Jerry Jones followed with another 3-pointer and layup to give the Dukes their first lead of the second half with 11:35 left.

"He [Mason] hit that bomb late and I guess the basketball gods were looking at us," said Ferry.

SLU's Dwayne Evans, who finished with 10 points, scored on a layup before Dominque McKoy gave the Dukes the lead for good with 11:06 left.

McKoy's bucket ignited a 10-0 run that pushed the Duquesne lead to 53-44. Jones, finished the run with his third and final 3-pointer followed by a driving layup.

Saint Louis pulled to within four with 58 seconds left, but Jones answered with a fast break layup off a pass from Derrick Colter to make it 63-57.

SLU would get no closer than five the rest of the way as Mason hit six free throws over the final 40 seconds to seal the win.

Duquesne went 8-of-15 from 3-point against a Saint Louis defense that began the week leading the nation in 3-point field goal defense (.266). Mason, the nation's leading 3-point shooter, and Jones were a combined 7-of-9.

The Dukes outshot the Billikens .436 to .404. DU turned 16 SLU turnovers into 16 points.

There were three ties and six lead changes in a first half that ended with Saint Louis up 29-25. Neither team led by more than five in the opening 20 minutes.

"It's a great win for our program," said Ferry. "More importantly we have to build from this."

Duquesne plays its final regular season home game against Massachusetts (22-5, 9-4) on Wednesday, March 5 at A.J. Palumbo Center (Atlantic 10 Digital Network). DU concludes the 2013-14 regular season at George Mason on Saturday, March 8.

NOTES
• The win was Duquesne's first over a Top 10 team since a 72-68 win over No. 9 (AP) Xavier on Feb. 7, 2009 ... it was DU's first road win over a Top 10 team since a 73-72 win at No. 6 (AP) Bradley on March 5, 1962 ... Duquesne's last win on the road against a ranked team was on Jan. 25, 1997 at No. 16 (AP) Xavier by a 78-70 score.

• This was the 16th time in school history - and just the third time since 1975 - that an unranked Duquesne team has defeated a Top 10 team.

• It was just the third loss in conference play for Saint Louis at Chaifetz Arena in the past three years (SLU is now 20-3 in A-10 home games since 2011-12) ... the only other team to defeat SLU at home this season is No. 2 (AP) Wichita State on Dec. 1.

• Duquesne, which shot .149 in the second half of a 57-54 loss to Dayton in its last outing, shot .556 in the second half against Saint Louis.

• Duquesne's largest lead was 10 (69-59) with :16 remaining in the second half ... Saint Louis' largest lead was 7 (42-35) with 13:06 left ... there were three ties and nine lead changes ... Duquesne took the lead for good on a Dominique McKoy jumper with 11:06 left.

• Micah Mason, who entered the game as the nation's leading 3-point shooter (.554), went 4-of-5 from the arc in scoring a career-high 22 points ... in two games against Saint Louis' nation's-best 3-point defense, Mason went 9-of-12 from the arc.

• Jerry Jones came off the bench to score a season-high 19 points in 20 minutes ... Jones went 8-of-10 from the field, including 3-of-4 from the 3-point arc.

• Duquesne plays its final regular season home game against Massachusetts (22-5, 9-4) on Wednesday, March 5 at A.J. Palumbo Center (Atlantic 10 Digital Network). DU concludes the 2013-14 regular season at George Mason on Saturday, March 8.