PITTSBURGH -  Joe Reece led three Dukes in double figures with a season-high 18 points to lead Duquesne (11-4, 1-1) to a 72-61 win over Rhode Island (4-9, 0-1) on Saturday afternoon at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Dae Dae Grant scored 14 and Jimmy Clark III added 13 points for the Dukes who used a 16-2 second-half run to pull away from the Rams.

There were eight ties and nine lead changes in a first half that ended with Duquesne up 36-35.

Reece had 11 at the break as neither team led by more than six.

Rhody took a brief four-point lead following the half and led by one before Austin Rotroff ignited a 16-2 run with his first bucket of the game. Grant followed with a traditional three-point play then found Rotroff for a dunk that made it 52-46 at the under 12 media timeout.

The Dukes got back-to-back 3-pointers from Clark III and Reece to finish the run up 61-48.

Rhode Island battled back to cut it to 65-60 at the five-minute mark.

The Dukes put it out of reach when Reece went to the floor to grab a loose ball and found Clark for a breakaway three-point play that made it 72-61 with :46 left.

Duquesne, which held URI to .356 from the field, shot .379. DU, led by three 3-pointers from R.J. Gunn, finished 9-of-20 (9-of-20) from the arc, while Rhody went 6-of-20 from deep.

The Dukes, who assisted on 18 of 25 field goals, turned it over just six times.

Tevin Brewer led the way with a game-high six assists in 25 turnover-free minutes.

Duquesne completes its two-game homestand vs. VCU on Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN+).

NOTES

• The win snapped a 17-game regular season Atlantic 10 losing streak for Duquesne. The 2022-23 Dukes inherited a 16-game streak. DU's previous A-10 win was at UMass on Jan. 8, 2022 (78-74). The win also halted an eight-game home conference skid.
• Grad student R.J. Gunn, who started 78 games at D-II Lenoir-Rhyne, made his first start as a Duke. Gunn went 3-of-6 from 3-point in finishing with a season high-tying nine points.
• The fivesome of Williams, Reece, Gunn, Grant and Brewer was DU's fourth starting lineup combination this year.
• Dae Dae Grant tied his career high with nine rebounds.
• DU outscored URI 15-4 off turnovers and 16-6 in second chance points.
• Duquesne's largest lead was 13, at 61-48, with 9:08 left ... Rhode Island's largest lead was 16, at 28-22, with 5:07 left in the first half ... there were 10 ties and 13 lead changes in the game ... Duquesne took the lead for good on Austin Rotroff's layup that made that made it 47-46 with 13:31 left ... Rhode Island led for 7:58 ... Duquesne led for 26:41.