Pittsburgh, Pa. – Duquesne went 11-for-12 at the free-throw line in the final four minutes to hold off the
Robert Morris University men's basketball team, 72-65, Saturday at the A.J. Palumbo Center.
Nakye Sanders gave Duquesne a 61-52 advantage with 6:28 to play on a tip-in, but that would the final field goal of the contest for the Dukes. RMU followed by putting together an 11-3 run that trimmed its deficit to 64-63 with 2:20 remaining.
Sophomore forward
Elijah Minnie ignited the surge with a layup and scored four points, while senior guard
Rodney Pryor hit a pair of three-pointers. Junior forward
Billy Giles had an opportunity to tie the game at the 2:20 mark, but hit the front end of a pair of free throws.
On Duquesne's next possession, Derrick Colter was stripped by freshman guard
Matty McConnell. On the fast break, McConnell went up for a layup that would've given the Colonials the lead, but Colter recovered to block the shot.
Giles came down with the offensive rebound to give Robert Morris another crack at grabbing the lead, but TySean Powell stripped Pryor of the ball before RMU could capitalize. Powell was immediately fouled and hit a pair of free throws to push the Duquesne lead to 66-63 with 1:49 to go.
A few empty possessions followed before Pryor had a chance at tying the game with 44 seconds remaining, but his three-pointer from the wing was off the mark.
Colter sealed the win by going 6-for-6 at the chalk in the final 39 seconds.
"Certainly an intense, hard-fought game," head coach
Andrew Toole. "We kept ourselves close and had a few chances at the end, but we just missed a few shots. Give Duquesne credit, they did an outstanding job on the glass. We know that it was pick your poison, as even though we did a good job trying to take away the three-pointer, they capitalized on second-chance opportunities."
RMU fell behind, 30-20, at the 4:46 mark of the first half after a three-pointer by Micah Mason, but the Colonials closed the half on a 10-5 spurt to trim their deficit to 35-30 at halftime. Giles opened the scoring half in the second half with a dunk, and Minnie tied the game for the fifth time, 35-35, with a three-pointer.
Duquesne rallied and eventually grabbed a pair of nine-point advantages before Robert Morris put forth its final flurry of the game.
Minnie paced RMU with a double-double, scoring 23 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. He also blocked three shots. Minnie finished 9-for-19 shooting, including 3-for-8 from beyond the arc, and was 2-for-3 at the free-throw line.
Pryor eclipsed the 20-point plateau for the fifth straight game with 22 points and also added eight rebounds, two assists, two blocks and three steals.
Colter led Duquesne with 19 points on the strength of an 11-for-11 performance at the chalk. Eric James contributed 13 points off the bench and Mason finished with 10.
Robert Morris returns to action Tuesday, Dec. 29, with a 7:00 p.m. tip at Georgia.
Stat Of The Night5 – Consecutive 20-point scoring games for senior guard
Rodney Pryor, the first player on record in school history to turn the trick.
