MORGANTOWN, WV - Duquesne rallied from a 13-point first half deficit to pull within four in the early going of the second half, but could get no closer in a in a 78-70 loss to West Virginia in a charity exhibition game at WVU Coliseum.

Huntington, W.Va. native Tavian Dunn-Martin led the Dukes with 22 points, including five 3-pointers. First-year graduate transfer Baylee Steele added a nine points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Sincere Carry had 11 points, five rebounds and six assists and Michael Hughes added 11 rebounds for the Dukes who shot .365.

Freshman Oscar Tshiebwe led West Virginia, which shot .470, with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

Duquesne made it 42-38 on a Dunn-Martin 3-pointer with just over 17 minutes left. The Dukes then missed five shots in a row as WVU upped the lead to nine.    

Dunn-Martin misfired on a 3-point attempt that could have cut it to four with just over six minutes left, before WVU rallied to take its first double-digit lead since the 11-minute mark on a Miles McBride jumper that made it 64-53 with 5:05 to go.

The Mountaineers made it 74-58 following a Tshiebwe dunk and free throw with just over two minutes left.

Dunn-Martin, who went 5-of-11 from the arc, drilled a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute for DU.

The Dukes fell behind 29-16 with just over five minutes left in the first half before Dunn-Martin hit a pair of 3-pointers to held DU cut the deficit to 38-30 after the opening 20 minutes.

Duquesne opens the 2019-20 season against Princeton at 6:00 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena. The men's game will be followed by the Duquesne women vs. Kent State (both games will be streamed live on ESPN+).
 
NOTES:

• The game, which was set-up to benefit the Dayton Oregon District Tragedy Fund, was played before a crowd of 9,706.
• Marcus Weathers, Michael Hughes, Maceo Austin, Tavian Dunn-Martin and Sincere Carry started for the Dukes. Nine players saw action.
• Sophomore Austin Rotroff made his first appearance since suffering a season-ending ACL injury last year vs. Saint Louis (Jan. 23).
• Freshman Evan Buckley went 2-of-2 from the field and 4-of-4 from the line in scoring nine points in 12 minutes off the bench.