PITTSBURGH - Freshman Amir "Primo" Spears scored a season-high 21 points to go along with six assists and six steals and Leon Ayers III tied his career high for the second-straight game with 23 points to lead Duquesne (3-4) to an 88-79 win over American (2-5) on Sunday afternoon at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Kevin Easley Jr. (14 points) and Tre Williams (13 points) also scored in double figures for the Dukes who shot a season-high 58 percent in reaching a season-high point total.

American, which took a 5-3 lead just over two minutes in, saw its advantage reach eight twice, the second of which coming at 31-23 with 5:48 left.

A Jackie Johnson III 3-pointer cut it to 33-29 at the four minute mark and the Dukes, who closed the half on a 9-1 run, pulled to within one on an Ayers III layup with 47 seconds left.

Spears gave the Dukes their first lead since 3-2 when he buried a 3-pointer at the first half horn to make it 38-37.

Duquesne would never trail the rest of the way.

DU took a 50-44 lead on a floater by Ayers III and steal and breakaway dunk by Tyson Acuff. An Easley Jr. 3-pointer made it 53-44, forcing an American timeout with 13:40 left.

DU took its first double-digit lead on a fast break layup by Austin Rotroff that made it 63-53.

American cut to 69-63 on a Lorenzo Donadio 3-pointer, before Easley Jr. hit a fadeaway and Spears scored on a high-arcing floater in the lane to make it 73-65 with just under three minutes left.

Spears added a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 10.

The Dukes made 15-of-16 free throws over the last 2:19, including six each without a miss from Ayers III and Spears, to put the game away.

Duquesne hosts Bowling Green on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. The men's game will be preceded by the DU women vs. Canisius at 4:00 p.m. Both games will air on ESPN+.

NOTES

• The Dukes shot a season-high .580. The shooting percentage was DU's second-best in five seasons under Keith Dambrot, second only to a .585 effort in a win over Columbia on Dec. 9, 2019.
• Freshman Primo Spears' six steals were one shy of the school record shared by six players. This was Spears' first 20-point game as a Duke. Spears had five steals in the second half alone.
• Leon Ayers III went 7-of-12 from the field and 8-of-8 from the foul line in tying his career scoring high with 23 points. Ayers III, who scored 23 at The Citadel last year while at Mercer, had 23 in DU's 78-70 win over Bradley on Monday at the Paradise Jam.
• Austin Rotroff came off the bench to contribute four points, three rebounds and a career-high three assists in 10 minutes. His previous career best for assists was two on two occasions.
• This was Duquesne's fifth starting lineup combination in seven games.
• Duquesne, led by Ayers III (8-of-8) and Spears (8-of-10), went 26-of-33 (.788) from the foul line.
• DU, which finished with nine turnovers, did not turn it over in the second half.
• Duquesne's largest lead was 12 at 67-55 with 6:21 left ... American's largest lead was eight on two occasions, the last of which coming at 31-23 with 4:52 left in the first half ... there was one tie and two lead changes before Spears gave the Dukes the lead for good at 38-37 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the first half ... American led for 17:18 ... Duquesne led for 22:03.