PITTSBURGH - Bowling Green (4-4) held Duquesne (3-5) scoreless over the last 2:47 in putting together a game-deciding 12-0 run to pull away for a 78-70 win over the Dukes on Wednesday night at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Leon Ayers III led the Dukes with 20 points. He was joined in double figures by Kevin Easley Jr. with 18 and Tre Williams with 12.

Joe Reece and Kade Metheny led four Falcons in double digits with 15 points each.

Primo Spears' lone field goal of the half - a driving layup - resulted in a three-point play that made it 70-66 with 2:47 left.

The Dukes would not score the rest of the way, as Reece started the Bowling Green run with a free throw and put back to make it a one-point game.

Samari Curtis, who finished with 14 points, followed a DU turnover with a 3-pointer to give BGSU a 72-70 lead with 53 seconds left.

Following a timeout, Spears' shot in the lane was off the mark and corralled by Williams. Ayers eventually got off a 3-point attempt from the corner that rimmed out.

Reece rebounded and made a pair of free throws to make it 74-70.

Williams missed a 3-point attempt with 25 seconds left and Ayers III missed two more late as Bowling Green hit four more free throws down the stretch to seal it.

Duquesne, behind 10 early points from Ayers III, jumped out to a 28-18 lead before Bowling Green put together a 11-0 run to take a 29-28 lead with 3:10 left in the half. DU, which went 1-of-9 from the field during the BGSU run, answered with a Toby Okani 3-pointer to regain the lead.

DU got another 3-pointer from Tyson Acuff to build the advantage to 38-32 at the half.

Duquesne took a nine-point lead early in the second half on a Williams 3-pointer, but the Falcons stayed in it on the shooting of Metheny who scored 10 points after the break.

The Dukes led 59-52  after Williams hit a layup, but missed a free throw that could have converted a three-point play.

BGSU then went on a 10-0 run to take a 62-59 lead on a Daeqwon Plowden dunk.

There were two ties and three lead changes, before Curtis' 3-pointer gave Bowling Green the 72-70 lead it would not relinquish.

Bowling Green, which shot .406 for the game, went 9-of-17 from the 3-point arc (.529), while Duquesne - which missed its last five 3-point attempts - finished 9-of-26 (.346) from deep.

Duquesne heads to Huntington, W.Va. to face Marshall on Sat., Dec. 4 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+), in its first true road game of the season. The Dukes follow the Marshall game with a trip to Chicago to face DePaul on Tues., Dec. 7 at 8:30 p.m. ET (FS1).

It is the first time DU will play back-to-back non-conference road games since December of 2014 (at Penn State and at Robert Morris).

NOTES

• Leon Ayers III, who finished with a game-high 20 points, reached the 20-point mark for the third consecutive game. The last Duke to string together three-straight 20-point games was Eric Williams Jr. in March of 2019.
• Tyson Acuff's seven rebounds eclipsed his previous career high of six set last week vs. Colorado. The 6-4 guard had five boards in the first half.
• Tre Williams finished with a career high-tying four assists. He accomplished the feat once at Indiana State and also in this year's opener vs. Rider.
• Duquesne, which averaged 62.5 points per game in its first four games, has averaged 78.0 ppg. in its past four.
• Duquesne's largest lead was 11 at 25-14 with 9:36 left in the first half ... Bowling Green's largest lead was the final margin ... there were two ties and 10 lead changes before Samari Curtis' 3-pointer gave BGSU the lead for good at 72-70 with 58 seconds left ... Bowling Green led for 5:36 ... Duquesne led for 32:45.