This time, it wasn’t so easy. This time, Duquesne faced stiffer resistance.

Indeed, Sacred Heart wasn’t Niagara.

For a second straight game to start the season, the Dukes met a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponent Friday night, and, for a second time, they came out on top.

But it took some doing.

John Hugley IV and Tarence Guinyard scored 25 points apiece and Duquesne pulled away to a 92-80 victory over Sacred Heart in the Villanova Challenge at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, following up on a season-opening, 20-point victory over Niagara on Monday night.

Jimmie Williams contributed 13 points and Maximus Edwards hit for 10 for Duquesne (2-0) to reach 1,000 points in a career that began in 2023 at George Washington, when he was the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year before transferring to the Dukes before the start of last season.

It was the ninth 20-point game for Hugley, whose career began at Pitt, but his first since his sophomore season with the Panthers.

The last time Hugley scored at least 20 points in a game was on Feb. 22, 2022, against Miami.

Duquesne entertains Queens in the second game of the Multi-Team Event (MTE) on Tuesday before visiting Villanova on Nov. 15 in the finale.

Sacred Heart (1-1), picked to finish third in the MAAC behind Quinnipiac and Siena — Niagara was picked next to last at 12th — was led by Nyle Ralph-Beyer’s 17 points.

Dashon Gittens added 16 points and Anquan Hill, a preseason first-team all-MAAC pick, wound up with 13, despite sitting out all but 2 minutes in the first half with four fouls, including a technical.

Hill, a 6-foot-9 senior and a former Northeast Conference Freshman of the Year at Fairleigh Dickinson, scored all his points in the second half.

Sacred Heart stayed withing striking distance in the first half, even taking a pair of one-point leads, and never trailed by double digits until the second half.

When Guinyard dished to Williams on a second-half fast break and Williams dumped off to Cam Crawford for any easy layup, Duquesne finally got its advantage to 10 points, 60-50, with 14:57 left.

From there, the Dukes steadily pulled away.

Duquesne shot 43.9% (29 for 66) but made just 8 of 35 3-point attempts (22.9).

Meanwhile, Sacred Heart went 21 for 56 (37.5%) and made 7 of 30 3-pointers (23.3).

The Dukes edged the Pioneers in rebounding, 45-43.

A raggedly played first half ended with Duquesne on top, 45-42, despite being outshot by the Pioneers, who canned 46.2% of their attempts compared to 38.7 for the Dukes.

Both teams were whistled for 14 fouls each in the first 20 minutes. Included were a pair of technical fouls, one each against Hill and Sacred Heart coach Anthony Latina.

Both teams paraded to the free-throw line, combining for 54 fouls and 85 attempts.

Neither team shot proficiently from the strike, Duquesne finishing at 66.7% and Sacred Heart 67.4.

After Sacred Heart took its final lead at 34-33, Williams canned a 3-pointer with 3:53 to go before intermission to hand Duquesne the upper hand for good.