Feb. 17, 2016 Box Score /
Photo Gallery PITTSBURGH - Kevin Larsen led four players in double figures with 16 points to lead George Washington (19-7, 8-5) to an 81-74 win over Duquesne at Palumbo Center.
Micah Mason scored a game-high 26 for the Dukes (15-11, 5-8), who suffered their fourth consecutive defeat. It was the fifth-straight 20-point game for Mason. Derrick Colter added 18 for the Dukes, who led 45-32 with 17:01 left.
Mason and Colter, who combined for 18 points in DU's 91-64 loss at GW on Jan. 9, had 24 in leading the Dukes to a 38-31 halftime lead.
"We're not defending in the second half at the level we're defending in the first half," said Duquesne head coach Jim Ferry. "You hold them to 38 percent from the field in the first half, 27 percent from three, and they shoot 52 in the second half. It puts major pressure on you to score."
Duquesne took its 13-point lead on a Mason layup under three minutes into the second half before the Colonials rallied to cut it to two on a Matt Hart 3-pointer four minutes later. Joe McDonald, who scored all of his 14 points in the second half, started the 12-3 run with a 3-pointer.
The Colonials tied it at 53-53 on a pair of Tyler Cavanaugh free throws with just under 10 minutes left. Larsen followed with a layup off a DU turnover to give GW its first lead since the 10:11 mark of the first half.
GW stymied the Dukes with a triangle-and-two defense that limited Mason and Colter to one field goal - a Mason 2-pointer at the 6:43 mark - for nearly 11 minutes in erasing the DU lead.
"They go to a junk defense to take away Micah and DC and I felt we kind of froze a little bit," said Ferry. "We've faced teams who have done it to us, and we've shredded them with it. It was a little disappointing to see us play this poorly offensively during that stretch."
Mason (6-of-9) and Colter (2-of-3) combined for eight of DU's 10 3-pointers. The rest of the team was a combined 2-of-15.
Duquesne pulled to within three on a Josh Steel 3-pointer before Larsen buried a back-breaking 3-pointer from the top of the key late in the shot clock to make it 74-68 with 1:06 left. It was Larsen's fifth 3-pointer of the season.
GW hit 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch for the final margin.
Larsen added a game-high 12 rebounds for GW. Darius Lewis led the Dukes with nine boards.
Duquesne heads to Rhode Island for the first of back-to-back road games on Sat., Feb. 20 at 7:00 p.m. DU is at St. Bonaventure on Wed., Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m.
NOTES
• This was the fifth-straight 20-plus point game for Micah Mason: 23 at Saint Louis, 21 vs. Davidson, 27 at Dayton, career-high 29 vs. UMass and 26 vs. George Washington ... the last Duquesne player to score 20 or more in five-straight games was Ovie Soko during the 2014 season ... Mason, who has scored 20 or more 11 times this season, is averaging 25.2 ppg. in DU's past five games.
• Derrick Colter, who has played every game in his Duquesne career, passed Damian Saunders to become the school's all-time leader in career starts with 117 ... with his 18 points, Colter passed Bryan McAllister (1,546 from 2003-06) to move into the No. 9 spot on DU's all-time scoring list ... Colter has 1,557 points in 117 games.
• Colter and Mason, who combined for 18 points in DU's 91-64 loss at GW on Jan. 9, had 44 tonight (including 24 in the first half) ... Colter and Mason played all 40 minutes.
• Darius Lewis finished with 9 rebounds in a career-high 36 minutes ... the 6-11 junior has 58 rebounds in his past six games (9.7 rpg. over that span).
• Duquesne's largest lead was +13 (45-32) with 17:01 left ... GW's largest lead was +10 (78-68) with 38 seconds left ... there were six ties and two lead changes ... Duquesne led for 19:38, GW for 16:24.
