It wasn't pretty, but the Saint Joseph's Hawks got their first conference victory of the season as they edged the Duquesne Dukes 74-66 at the A.J. Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. on Saturday evening.
The Hawks were strong offensively during the first half, shooting 52 percent from the field during the opening segment of the game and took a 23-12 lead midway through the first half on a fast break lay-up by Langston Galloway.
Saint Joseph's (9-5, 1-1 Atlantic 10) got a big boost off of the bench from Daryus Quarles who scored 9 first half points after three shots from beyond the arc. Quarles had come into the game with just two made field goals on the entire season.
Duquesne (7-9, 0-2 A-10) stayed within striking distance by using a large advantage on the glass over the course of the game. The Dukes corralled 17 offensive rebounds and out-rebounded the Hawks 47-33 in the contest. Saint Joseph's took a 40-33 lead into the locker room.
During the second half Duquesne continued to chip away at the Hawks lead, and while they were able to tie the game up on a couple of occasions, the Dukes were never able to make the key stop or hit the clutch shot that would give them the lead as Saint Joseph's led wire-to-wire in the game.
When the Hawks needed a big bucket down the stretch, they went to their team captain Galloway.
With the Hawks clinging to a 66-64 advantage in the final two and a half minutes, Galloway hit a jumper to beat the shot clock to put Saint Joseph's up by four.
After a key defensive stop by the Hawks, it was Galloway again who knocked down the clutch shot, banking another shot home late in the shot clock to put SJU up by six with just over a minute to play.
Despite Saint Joseph's only hitting four of their eight free throws over the final minute of the contest, Duquesne could not make a sustained last minute rally and the Hawks walked away with their fourth road victory of the season.
Saint Joseph's put four players in double-figures in the game, led by Galloway who led all scorers with 16 points. Carl Jones added 15 points in the Hawks victory, but his woes at the charity stripe continued as he was a putrid 4-of-11 from the foul line in the game.
Ronald Roberts earned himself yet another double-double as he scored 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds while Chris Wilson netted 12 points for Saint Joseph's. While C.J. Aiken did not provide much on the offensive end, he had a large impact defensively as he swatted away seven Duquesne shots in the game.
Duquesne was led in scoring by Andre Marhold and Sean Johnson, who each scored 13 points in the losing effort.
Saint Joseph's was without Halil Kanacevic, who flew to Montenegro after a death in his family. Kanacevic will be away from the team indefinitely.
The Hawks will next be in action on Thursday as they travel to Richmond, Va. to take on VCU. Tip-off is slated for 9 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on the CBS Sports Network.
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