PITTSBURGH – Jerry Jones scored 16 off the bench and Derrick Colter added 12 points and 7 assists to help Duquesne (6-4) erase a 15-point second half deficit and defeat West Virginia (4-4), 60-56 at CONSOL Energy Center.
The win was the fifth in six games for the Dukes.
Jones and Colter, who combined to score the Duquesne’s last 19 points, were the difference in the school’s biggest comeback since erasing a 19-point second half deficit in a win over Radford on Dec. 6, 1997.
WVU tied it at 53-53 on an Aaric Murray jumper with 2:45 left, before Colter scored on a reverse layup and a drive to make it a four-point game.
Colter then penetrated and found Jerry Jones for a layup at the 28 second mark before Matt Humphrey hit WVU’s first 3-pointer of the half to make it 59-56 with 15.8 seconds remaining.
Sean Johnson was fouled and missed the front end of an one-and-one, Humphrey missed a deep three and Gary Browne was fouled on the rebound. Browne missed the first free throw and didn’t draw iron when he intentionally missed the second. Colter was fouled on the inbound and hit the front end of a one-and-one for the final margin.
“It came down to us defending the way we were supposed to defend and rebounding the ball,” said Duquesne coach Jim Ferry. “Everyone contributed, this was truly a team win.”
Marvin Binney, whose previous career high was 4, scored 10 off the bench. Kadeem Pantophlet, Andre Marhold and Martins Abele had 6 rebounds each for the Dukes who outrebounded the Mountaineers 43-39.
Duquesne started slowly, missing 17 of its first 21 shots in falling behind 25-10 before putting together an 11-2 run to pull within six on a Jeremiah Jones layup with 3:06 left in the half. Binney scored four off the bench to key the run.
WVU answered with a 9-2 run to close out the half. The Dukes turned it over three times in a 21 second span to fuel the run which ended with a Humphrey 3-pointer with just over a minute left that made it 36-23 at the half.
The Dukes were 0-of-8 from the 3-point arc in the first half. Gary Browne and Juwan Staten had 10 each in the opening 20 minutes for the Mountaineers.
DU was down 15 less than 30 seconds into the second half before Johnson, who was scoreless in the first half, scored six in the opening two minutes to pull the Dukes within seven at 39-32.
DU cut it to four on a Binney jumper and Jerry Jones – who scored 12 over the final 8:39 – made it 47-45 on a breakaway dunk forcing a Mountaineer timeout with 8:10 to go.
The Dukes took their first lead on a Jerry Jones three-point play that made it 50-49 at the 5:51 mark.
There were two lead changes before the first of Colter’s two drives gave the Dukes a lead they would not relinquish.
Duquesne, which shot 32.1 percent in the first half, shot 53.6 percent in the second to finish at 42.9. WVU, which missed 13 of its first 18 shots of the second half, shot DU opponent low 33.3 percent.
The Dukes, who finished with 14 turnovers, turned it over just five times in the second half.
Duquesne returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 15 at Robert Morris (6-4).
NOTES
• The 15-point comeback (DU trailed 38-23 with 19:14 left) was Duquesne’s best since an 88-82 win over Radford on Dec. 6, 1997 … the Dukes erased a 19-point second-half deficit (down 47-28 with 18:31 left) in that game.
• This was Duquesne’s first win over WVU since an 86-82 victory at Palumbo Center on Nov. 25, 2002 … the Mountaineers had won eight in a row in the series … it was Duquesne’s first meeting with a current Big 12 school since Dec. 28, 1983 vs. Baylor.
• This was DU’s first win when holding its opponent under 70 points and when scoring under 70 points.
• Marvin Binney scored a career-high 10 … his previous career best was 4 vs. Maine … Binney is the ninth Duke to score 10 or more in a game this season.
• Duquesne, which missed its first eight 3-point attempts against WVU, is 8-of-40 from the 3-point arc in its two games at CONSOL Energy Center this season (3-of-19 vs. WVU and 5-of-21 in a 66-45 loss to Pitt on Dec. 5) … on the other hand, DU has limited its two CONSOL opponents to combined 35.9 percent shooting (Pitt 38.7 and WVU 33.3).
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