PITTSBURGH - Joe Bamisile scored 11 of his game-high 21 points in the first half as George Washington (10-14, 6-6) defeated cold-shooting Duquesne (6-18, 1-11), 73-52, on Wednesday night at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

Primo Spears and Tre Williams led Duquesne, which dropped its eleventh in a row, with 18 and 15 points respectively.

DU, playing its third game in five days shot 27.6 percent, including 1-of-21 from the 3-point arc.

GW hit 10 of its first 14 shots in jumping out to a 24-10 lead.

The lead reached 16 as Duquesne misfired on its first 11 3-point attempts.

Mounir Hima was the first Duke other than Williams or Spears to score when he hit a layup to make it 29-16 with just over four minutes left.

Tyson Acuff pulled Duquesne within 10 on a free throw at the 2:04 mark.

GW scored the final four points of the half to take a 33-19 lead at the break.

DU went 9-of-40 in the first half.

GW opened the second half with back-to back 3-pointers to take a 20-point lead.

Spears hit DU's first 3-pointer, after 13 misses, to make it 49-26.

George Washington's lead reached 27 points in the second half.

Duquesne heads to Olean, N.Y. for a nationally-televised rematch with St. Bonaventure (16-7, 8-4) on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 6:00 p.m. on ESPNU. The Dukes will be looking to avenge a 64-56 loss to St. Bonaventure in Pittsburgh on Jan. 21.

NOTES

• Tre Williams' 18 points were one shy of his season high set at VCU.
• Kevin Easley Jr.'s 11 rebounds were one shy of his career high of 12 accomplished three times (vs. Colorado on Nov. 20 last, the other two were during his freshman season at Chattanooga).
• DU's 19 first half points matched the Dambrot Era first half low set vs. St. Bonaventure in last year's Atlantic 10 Tournament second round. It was two more than the low for any half (17 at Rhode Island in 2020).
• Mike Bekelja made his third start of the season. It was his first start since Nov. 19 vs. Northeastern at the Paradise Jam.
• George Washington's largest lead was 27, the last of which came at 71-44 with 2:50 left ... there were three lead changes before Brayon Freeman gave GW the lead for good on a layup with 17:56 left in the first half ... GW led for 38:19 ... Duquesne led for 1:17.