PITTSBURGH - Michael Hughes scored a career-high 19 points and Eric Williams Jr. added 22 as Duquesne jumped out to a big first half lead and held on to defeat UMass Lowell, 83-71, at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

Freshman Sincere Carry added nine assists to lead the Dukes who moved to 4-1. Alex Rivera had 19 - including five 3-pointers - for UMass Lowell which dropped to 4-4.

Eleven players scored for the Dukes who shot 50.8 percent.

DU, which led by 18 with just over nine minutes left, saw UML cut it to eight on a Rivera 3-pointer with 2:45 remaining before Williams Jr. scored six points in the final 54 seconds to seal it.

UML, which outscored DU 38-37 in the second half, pulled to within 10 on an Obadiah Noel basket with just over five minutes left before Michael Hughes answered with a corner jumper to make it 73-61.    

The River Hawks made it a nine-point game on a Bryce Daley bucket before Sincere Carry scored on a putback with 3:37 remaining.

UMass Lowell led 14-12 before freshman Amari Kelly ignited 22-7 run with a layup. Carry, another freshman, buried a 3-pointer to make it a 10-point game and a third freshman, Lamar Norman Jr., made it 34-21 on another 3-pointer with just under seven minutes left in the half.

Tavian Dunn-Martin extended the lead to 18 on a layup with 2:55 remaining.

Twelve players saw action for Duquesne in the opening 20 minutes that ended with the Dukes up 46-33.

DU, whose 15 steals were two shy of the school record, turned 24 UML turnovers into 31 points. Williams Jr. led the Dukes with a career high-tying for steals. Frankie Hughes and Dunn-Martin had three steals each as Duquesne outscored UMass Lowell 31-11 off turnovers.

Duquesne meets Pitt in the 87th annual City Game on Friday, Nov. 30 at 7:00 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena.
 
NOTES

• Sophomore Michael Hughes' 19 points eclipsed his previous career high of 13 set in the season opening win over William & Mary ... Hughes finished 8-of-10 from the field.
• Sophomore Eric Williams Jr., coming off a 1-of-11 performance on Tuesday at Notre Dame, went 5-of-5 from the field (3-of-3 from 3-point) in scoring a season-high 22 points ... it was the seventh 20-point game of his career ... Williams Jr. tied his career high with four steals.
• Freshman Sincere Carry finished with nine assists ... it was his second nine-assist game and third game with eight or more assists this season ... the nine assists tied the sixth-best effort by a DU by a freshman.
• Freshman Amari Kelly had six rebounds and blocked a game-high three shots in 10 minutes off the bench.
• Duquesne's 46 first half points were a season high ... the previous was 36 in the opening day win over William & Mary.
• Twelve players saw action for the Dukes in the first 12 minutes.
• There was one tie and nine lead changes before Duquesne took the lead for good on an Eric Williams Jr. 3-pointer that made it 17-14 with 13:54 left in the first half ... Duquesne's largest lead was 18 on multiple occasions, the last of which came at 66-48 with 8:42 left ... Duquesne led for 35:54 minutes, UML led for 3:03 ... the game was tied for 1:03.