Courtesy of GoDuquesne.com.
PITTSBURGH – Derrick Colter scored a career-high 25 points and Sean Johnson added 18 to lead Duquesne (7-5) to a wire-to-wire 71-66 win over Western Michigan (7-4) at Palumbo Center.
Andre Marhold added 9 points 8 rebounds and 4 blocks for the Dukes who upped their home record to 6-1.
Shayne Whittington led WMU with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Duquesne connected on 12 of a season-high 32 3-point attempts, with Colter and Johnson leading the way with four each.
The Dukes took a 49-36 lead on a Marhold bucket before going scoreless for over six minutes as the Broncos crept within three despite missing 15 of their first 19 shots of the second half.
Johnson ended the drought with a 3-pointer from the right wing that made it 52-46 at the 9:47 mark.
The senior guard added another 3-pointer just over a minute later to once again make it a six-point game.
Duquesne led 66-58 when Jeremiah Jones was called for a flagrant foul and ejected from the game. Nate Hutcheson hit a pair of free throws and Brandon Pokley added two more to complete a four-point possession that made it 66-62 with 3:00 left.
The Broncos could get no closer as Johnson, Kadeem Pantophlet and Colter hit free throws down the stretch to maintain at least a five-point lead.
“That was a hard, hard physically fought basketball game,” said Duquesne coach Jim Ferry. “I thought we had a great defensive effort and we needed it because we had that stretch where we really hit a lull. I thought we showed some good character there. The guys kept guarding and getting stops. Instead of us losing the lead during that stretch, we were able to sustain it. The biggest shot of the game was that three that Sean [Johnson] hit in front of our bench.”
Duquesne hit three 3-pointers in the opening 4:20 to take a 13-5 lead, before going scoreless for over four minutes as the Broncos cut the lead to two.
DU, with Colter and Johnson combining for 25 of its first 29 points, built the lead to eight on two occasions before WMU, behind the scoring of the 6-10 Whittington, cut it to 36-32 at the half.
Colter had 16 and Whittington 13 in the opening 20 minutes.
Colter hit a 3-pointer and Marhold and Jeremiah Jones, who had 11 points before his early exit, followed with a putback and layup to make it 43-32 and force a WMU timeout less than two minutes into the second half.
The Dukes, who shot 41.7 percent, limited WMU to a 35.4 percent.
Duquesne heads to Lafayette, Louisiana to face Louisiana (4-8) on Saturday, Dec. 22 at 8:00 (ET).
NOTES
• The win upped Duquesne’s home record to 6-1 (5-1 at Palumbo Center) … DU is 56-20 at Palumbo Center since 2007-08.
• Duquesne has now won six of its past seven games against Mid-American Conference teams … this was DU head coach Jim Ferry’s first career game against a MAC opponent.
• Derrick Colter went 9-of-17 from the field in scoring a career-high 25 … his previous career best was 18 against Youngstown State on Nov. 12 … Colter passed the 18-point mark on a 3-pointer 15 seconds into the second half … the 25 points are the most by a DU player in a game this season.
• With his 18 points, Sean Johnson passed Ron Guziak (1,049 from 1966-68) to move into the No. 33 spot on DU’s all-time scoring list with 1,052 points … he needs four to pass former teammate Eric Evans (1,055 from 2009-12) who ranks 32nd.
• With his four blocks against the Broncos, Andre Marhold (81 in 79 games) passed former teammate B.J. Monteiro (80 in 121 games from 2009-12) to move into the No. 5 spot on DU’s all-time blocked shots list.
• The Dukes hit the road for their next three games: Dec. 22 at Louisiana, Dec. 29 at Penn State (ESPN3) and Jan. 9 Atlantic 10 opener at Fordham (YES Network) … Duquesne’s next home game is Saturday, Jan. 12 vs. Saint Joseph’s.
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