Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Duquesne University men's basketball team stretched its winning streak to three Saturday with an 88-86 victory over George Washington in a game that featured 11 ties and 18 lead changes. The Dukes improved to 14-10 (.583) overall during the 2025-26 season with the triumph, including 6-5 (.545) in the Atlantic 10.
 
POINTS OF EMPHASIS
Luke Hunger converted in the lane with 6:47 remaining to give the Revolutionaries a 67-66 edge, but that's when senior guard Tarence Guinyard found his rhythm. He scored 16 consecutive points for the Dukes over the next 5:44 of action to help the Dukes open up an 84-76 lead with 1:03 to go. Guinyard pushed Duquesne on top for good, 76-74, at the 4:44 mark with a three-pointer, and another triple with 2:07 remaining stretched the advantage for Duquesne to 81-74. George Washington (13-11 | 4-7 Atlantic 10) didn't fold, getting three-pointers from Jean Aranguren as well as Trey Autry in the final minute to close to within 86-84 with 16 seconds left. Duquesne closed just 4-for-8 at the free-throw line in the final 51 seconds, including a 1-for-2 performance from junior forward Jakub Nečas with 2.5 seconds to go that ended up settling the final score. A pass for the Revolutionaries that went three quarters of the court eventually found Autry, who attempted a three-pointer from the wing in front of the GW bench as time expired, which was strong.
 
QUOTABLE
"They're a really good shooting team," said head coach Dru Joyce III said. "Offensively, they can spread you in different alignments. It was a battle to try to stop the penetration and the drives and the kicks. We focused in on the defensive end. They made some tough shots, but we turned them over. Our ball pressure, I think, is where it really shined. We also rebounded the ball in key moments. Overall, the poise to take those punches and come down, run good offense, share the ball and step up and make big shots while also continuing to defend, you just have to continue to stay hungry overall. There's a lot of pieces to the puzzle and there is another game coming."
 
20/20
Junior guard Jimmie Williams was the key offensive performer in the opening 20 minutes, scoring 15 of his 20 points in the first half as the Dukes and Revolutionaries went into the break tied, 40-40. The Dukes jumped out to an early 4-0 advantage after a dunk from Nečas before GW scored the next eight points of the contest behind Autry, who buried a pair of three-pointers. The lead for the Revs swelled to 21-14 at the 12:26 mark after yet another triple from Autry, who scored 12 points less than eight minutes into the contest. He was held scoreless, however, until his three-pointer with 16.4 seconds to go made it a one-possession game, 86-84. Hunger, who registered a double-double for George Washington with 17 points and 13 rebounds, gave the Revolutionaries their biggest advantage, 23-14, with a layup with 10:51 left before halftime before Duquesne used a 16-7 burst to tie it, 30-30, and set up the back-and-forth affair.
 
QUOTABLE
"I think we're growing up as a team," Joyce III said. "We got punched tonight early in the game. We wanted to start great but they made some big shots and got hot early. They also hit some tough shots throughout the game. Maybe a few weeks ago, we let that run continue, but our guys are hustling, their sprinting back, their talking, their pointing and their fighting. I think that's the biggest change. Slow starts are going to happen at times. We're trying to avoid them and we're trying to prepare against that, but whatever the case may be, how do we recover and fight from that point? It comes down to getting those stops."
 
NOTES
While Hunger notched a double-double for George Washington, Aranguren scored all of his 18 points in the second half while adding seven rebounds and four assists after the break to register a triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 dimes … GW finished 13-for-35 (37.1%) from beyond the arc, a game after unleashing 45 shots from deep … Senior forward David Dixon scored a season-high 17 points and also added five rebounds and three steals, while Nečas contributed 10 points and a pair of steals … Forward Alex Williams grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and scored seven points on the strength of a 5-for-6 showing at the free-throw line … Duquesne scored 44 points in the paint, improving to 5-2 (.714) this season when scoring at least 40 points in the paint … Jimmie Williams has scored in double figures in 19 consecutive games … The Dukes outscored the Revs, 21-9, in points off turnovers as George Washington finished with 16 miscues … GW used a seven-man rotation, with Hunger playing a team-high 37:50 … Duquesne shot 53.6 percent (15-of-28) in the second half and 48.3 percent (29-for-60) overall.   
 
UP NEXT
The Dukes return to action Saturday, Feb. 14, with a 4:00 p.m. tip in Olean, N.Y., against St. Bonaventure at the Reilly Center.
 
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