Box Score

JOHNSTOWN, PA. - Micah Mason scored a game-high 20 points, including the go-ahead jumper with two seconds left, to give Duquesne a 67-65 win over Saint Francis U in the first meeting between the two schools in Johnstown since 1971.

Derrick Colter added 13 points for the Dukes, whose 8-2 start is the school's best since 1979-80. Greg Brown led Saint Francis, which dropped to 3-5, with 16.

Brown made one of two free throws with nine seconds left to tie it, before L.G. Gill - whose put back of a missed Colter free throw gave the Dukes a one-point lead with 22 seconds left - got the rebound and handed it to Mason. Mason dribbled down the right side of the floor, giving the scoreboard clock a quick glance along the way, refused a screen near the 3-point arc and dribbled to his right where he hit a pull-up 16-footer.

"It was in transition and I was just going to come off the ball screen," said Mason of his game-winner. "I saw the guy was going to help, so I refused the ball screen, got the shot, and made it. I had a feeling that I was going to come down and make a play. Thankfully it went in tonight and I made a big shot to get us a win."

Following a timeout, SFU threw a long inbound pass to Basil Thompson, whose highly contested 3-point attempt never reached the basket.

"I'm a big believer in playing transition when things are scrambled," said Duquesne head coach Jim Ferry. "You call a timeout, and you let the team set up defensively, and you still have to get the ball back in. We had the ball in a great player's hands. So sit down, get out of the way, and trust these guys to make a great play."

Duquesne led from the 8:21 mark of the first half until Isaiah Blackmon converted the second of back-to-back drives to give the Red Flash a 64-63 lead with 38 seconds left.

TySean Powell, who grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds off the bench, tipped in an L.G. Gill 3-point miss with 2:44 left to give DU a 63-60 lead.

There were three ties and three lead changes in the first half which ended with Duquesne up 38-32. Mason had 12 in the opening 20 minutes for Duquesne, while Ben Millaud-Meunier - who finished with 13 - had 10 for Saint Francis.

SFU hit three 3-pointers, including two by Brown, in the first 3:15 of the second half to cut Duquesne's lead to 42-41, but couldn't regain the lead until the final minute.

Millaud-Meunier, a 90 percent free throw shooter, missed on a potential game-tying four-point play with 4:13 left and Thompson couldn't convert a potential three-point play with 3:23 left and SFU down 61-60.

Duquesne, which outrebounded Saint Francis 43-31, converted its 12 offensive boards into 10 second-chance points in outscoring the Red Flash 40-22 in the paint.

The Dukes shot 45.2 percent, including 6-of-21 from 3-point. SFU, which shot 42.9 percent overall, finished 9-of-19 from the arc.

"We're fortunate to win, but whenever you can win on the road, you just try to kill `em by one," said Ferry. "This game is going to go a long way toward our team's development - much more than, say, winning at home by 25."

Duquesne returns home to face South Carolina State on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 7:00 p.m. at A.J. Palumbo Center.

NOTES

• Duquesne's 8-2 start is its best since the 1979-80 team opened 10-2.

• The win was Duquesne's 32nd in the past 35 meetings with Saint Francis U ... it was also DU's seventh in a row at SFU.

• This was the first series meeting in Johnstown since a 111-71 Duquesne win on Jan. 13, 1971.

• Duquesne is now 8-0 when leading at the half this season.

• Micah Mason scored 20 points to bring his career total to 985 ... Mason, who played his freshman season at Drake, has scored 823 points in his three seasons at Duquesne.

• TySean Powell's 10 rebounds were two more than his previous career high which he had reached twice, the last coming on Dec. 1 vs. Mississippi Valley State.