Nov. 25, 2006
Box Score
Six-eleven center James Hughes led five Northern Illinois players in double figures with 22 points as NIU handed Duquesne an 85-74 defeat in the Dukes first road game of the season.
The win, NIU's second over Duquesne in less than a week, upped the Huskies record to 3-0. Duquesne, which opened the season 2-0, dropped to 2-3.
Zach Pancratz (16 points), Shaun Logan (13), Ryan Paradise (11) and Mike McKinney (10) were the other players in double digits for the Huskies who shot 54.2 percent for the game.
Robert Mitchell led Duquesne with 23 points, marking the fifth consecutive game a freshman has led the team in scoring. Fellow freshman Scott Grote, who scored 18 in the first half, finished with 20 points for the Dukes. Aaron Jackson added 11 points and four assists in a losing effort.
"That was a tough game," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. "I have great respect for Northern Illinois. They stuck with their game plan and wore us down as the game went on. Once again, I thought our guys played extremely hard."
The two teams, which played to overtime in an 87-82 Northern Illinois win at Duquesne on Monday, picked up where they left off with five ties and seven lead changes in the first nine minutes, before NIU went on a 7-0 run to take a 26-21 lead with 8:47 left.
Logan started the run with a jumper and Hughes ended it with a pair of free throws.
Duquesne cut the lead to three twice, the first coming on Grote's fourth 3-pointer of the half at the 4:34 mark and the second on a Mitchell jumper with 1:59 to go.
It was then that Northern Illinois went on another 7-0 run ignited by a Paradise 3-pointer to take a 10-point lead, before Duquesne's Gary Tucker hit a free throw to cut the margin to 46-37 at the half.
Pancratz, who finished the game 3-of-4 from the arc, hit a 3-pointer two minutes into the second half to give NIU a 51-39 lead. The Huskies maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.
Duquesne finished the game with three more field goals than Northern Illinois, but was outscored 27-to-8 from the foul line as NIU attempted 37 free throws.
"When they shoot 37 free throws and we shoot 12, that makes it awfully difficult to win a game," said Everhart. "Their seniors - Hughes and McKinney - made big plays. Every time we had an opportunity to get back in it one of those two wouldn't let us."
Duquesne returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 2 when it begins its own form of "rivalry week" at Robert Morris. Following the RMU game, the Dukes will play at No. 3 (AP) Pittsburgh on Dec. 6 before returning home to face West Virginia on Dec. 9.
