Box Score

ST. LOUIS - Ash Yacoubou scored a game-high 18 points and added 10 rebounds as Saint Louis took advantage of a rough free throw shooting night by Duquesne to post a 78-69 win at Chaifetz Arena.

Mike Crawford scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half, and Marcus Bartley scored all of his 13 in the first, for the Billikens who finished with 11 3-pointers.

Micah Mason was the lone Duquesne player in double digits with 12 points. DU, which had one fewer field goal than SLU, couldn't overcome a 13-of-34 performance from the foul line.

"This one is really simple," said Duquesne head coach Jim Ferry. "This one is free throws. Otherwise the game is completely even. We shot 46 from the field and 42 from three. You can't come on the road and shoot 38 percent from the foul line when you go 34 times. You can't let that happen."

Dominique McKoy, who finished with nine points and a career-high 12 rebounds, went 1-of-10 from the charity stripe. In all, seven Duquesne players missed at least once.

"I went in the locker room and gave Domo [McKoy] a big hug," said Ferry. "What can I say? They're in the gym, they shoot them every day. It seemed like it just snowballed. It took the momentum away from us. We were up early, and then the scoreboard just stopped changing because we couldn't convert from the line."

Saint Louis closed the first half on a 13-2 run that ended with a Yacoubou 3-pointer - SLU's ninth - at the horn to make it 42-29. Bartley, who came into the game averaging 3.3 ppg. hit all four of his 3-pointers in the final 6:25.

The Dukes, who had just nine field goals in the half, led by seven early, but hit just three of their last 13 attempts over the final 12 minutes.

The Dukes, who hit seven of their first 10 shots of the second half, cut the lead to six less than two minutes in, but the combination of missed free throws and five turnovers in the first nine minutes, prevented them from closing the gap.

"We had so many empty possessions," said Ferry. "We got stops, but we couldn't take advantage of them because we were missing opportunities with free throws."

Saint Louis took its largest lead - at 18 - on a pair of Yacoubou free throws with 5:05 left.

DU, which finished 8-of-19 from the arc, hit three 3-pointers in the final 2:31 to close the gap.

The Dukes, who went 8-of-18 from the line in the first half, were 5-of-16 from the stripe in the second.

Duquesne returns home to host No. 17 (AP) VCU (14-3, 4-0) on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at CONSOL Energy Center.

NOTES

• Guard Derrick Colter (8 points) hit 1-of-4 3-point attempts to bring his season percentage to .535 (38-of-71) ... Colter entered the game ranked second nationally in 3-point shooting percentage ... Colter has shot 50 percent or better in 10 of DU's 15 games ... in addition to his eight points, Colter had six assists and three steals in a turnover-free 31 minutes.

• In three career games against Saint Louis, junior guard Micah Mason is 15-of-24 (.625) from the field and 11-of-17 (.647) from the 3-point arc in scoring 16, 22 & 12 points (a 16,7 ppg. average).

• Dominique McKoy, TySean Powell and Jordan Stevens finished with nine points each ... McKoy added a career-high 12 rebounds ... his previous career-best was 11 vs. La Salle last season..

• Duquesne's largest lead was seven at 14-7 with 12:44 left in the first half ... Saint Louis's largest lead was 18 at 71-53 with 4:38 remaining ... there were two ties and two lead changes in the game before a Mike Crawford 3-pointer gave SLU the lead for good with 8:16 left in the first half.

• Duquesne returns to Pittsburgh for a pair of home games. The Dukes host No. 17 (AP) VCU (14-3, 3-0) - winner of nine in a row - on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at CONSOL Energy Center followed by St. Bonaventure at Palumbo Center on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7:00 p.m. The VCU game will be televised nationally by CBSSN and the Bonnies game will be streamed nationally by CampusInsiders.com.