The night at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse on Wednesday was filled with spectacular passes, sizzling 3-point shots, crisp fast-breaks and high-flying dunks.
Oh, and some bonus play to boot. Duquesne and Saint Joseph’s were putting on a show.
When the curtain finally came down, the homestanding Dukes walked away with a sensational 85-81 overtime victory, their fifth win in six games.
David Dixon’s 3-point shot with 4.8 seconds left broke an 80-80 tie and gave Duquesne the lead for keeps.
Duquesne’s Kareem Rozier fouled Saint Joseph’s Xzayvier Brown with 2 seconds to go. Brown made the first shot and intentionally missed the second. But the Dukes’ Eli Wilborn was able to corral the rebound, and the St. Francis (Pa.) transfer sank both free throws to seal the victory.
Cam Crawford’s two free throws for Duquesne with 23 seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime.
Tre Dinkins III scored 26 points, Dixon added 17 and Crawford finished with 13 for Duquesne (7-9, 2-1 Atlantic 10).
Rasheer Fleming led Saint Joseph’s (10-6, 1-2) with 20 points. Brown added 17, Derek Simpson chipped in 12 and Justice Ajogbor contributed 10.
Dixon came up with two crucial blocks — once in the closing seconds of regulation and once with time winding down in overtime — to help preserve the victory.
Saint Joseph’s entered the game with impressive credentials, having beaten a trio of high-major teams in Villanova, Texas Tech and Virginia Tech, the latter a 20-point shellacking.
Among the Hawks’ losses is a nine-point decision against Texas.
Duquesne wasn’t buying it.
Dinkins connected on a pair of 3-point shots to help Duquesne build 50-38 second-half lead, but the Dukes eventually lost their advantage on a Brown layup to fall behind 60-59.
From there, it was a back-and-forth war, neither team leading by more than four points down to the wire.
Duquesne’s first-half lead swelled to 27-16 with 7:29 left on Dinkins’s floater in the lane.
A 10-2 run pulled Saint Joseph’s within 29-26 before Duquesne rallied to extend its advantage to 36-30 at halftime.