Men's basketball claims win at Consol

The Duquesne men's basketball team improved its all-time record at Consol Energy Center to 2-4 with a second half surge in its 66-59 victory over Penn State Saturday night.

With 15:53 remaining and Duquesne (6-4) down two, Eric Evans hit Jerry Jones streaking down the court for an open layup, sparking an 11-0 Duquesne run over the next 2:51 that would put them up 48-39 with 13:02 on the clock. Over that stretch, T.J. McConnell, Evans and Jones would take turns pirating Penn State guard Tim Frazier then finding either Evans or Jones wide-open for a fast-break layup.

Evans, who recorded six points, two assists, one steal and one rebound in that stretch, thought the team responded well to some first-half adversity.

"We knew in the first half, we weren't really playing Duquesne basketball. We were playing a little sluggish, not getting loose balls," Evans said. "We knew we had to come out in the second half real strong. We were able to get a lot of loose balls."

Evans seemed to toss his body at every loose ball. His third career 20 point performance helped the Dukes keep a comfortable distance from the Nittany Lions down the stretch.

In the last 21 seconds, Evans sealed the game when he muscled the ball away from Penn State forward Oliver Billy and beat out guard Cammeron Woodyard to the ball on consecutive Penn State possessions.

"Eric's serious about it," Coach Ron Everhart said. "The play Eric made where he dove on the floor to get that loose ball there at the end of the game may have been the best effort play we've ever had at Duquesne University since I've been here. That was tremendous."

Evans's effort was joined by that of fellow guard Jones, who has seen increased playing-time recently, averaging 19 minutes per game in Duquesne's current three-game home stretch. Jones recorded career highs in both points, with 14, and minutes, with 23, against Penn State.

Jones said the increase in his time and production can be attributed to his relationship with Everhart.

"Real big confidence man, real big confidence. It's unexplainable really," Jones said. "Me and coach have a real good relationship."

Everhart praised Jones's pregame as well and in-game efforts after the win.

"I have tremendous confidence in the kid. When he's making shots, he's a pretty good player," Everhart said. "He probably worked as hard as anybody on our team this summer."

The Dukes' will-to-win wasn't as evident in the first half.  They were outrebounded 23-14 and only scored four fast-break points. But the defense held strong, forcing 10 turnovers while Penn State went 12-for-26 from the field, 2-for-10 from three.

Everhart said the defense was the only reason the Dukes were able to hang with Penn State long enough to take control early in the second.

"The defensive effort we had late in the first half saved us. That could've easily been a 10 or 12 point difference at halftime," Everhart said. "That was huge because we couldn't throw it in the ocean."

An 8-for-26 first-half shooting performance backs up Everhart's claim, but Duquesne was able to shoot a much more impressive 14-for-27 in the second half after they figured out the Lions' 1-2-2 half-court trap and forced Penn State to play the up-tempo style the Dukes are accustomed to. The increased pressure on the Lions' offense led to 12 fast-break points for the red and blue in the second.

"In the second half, we talked about it and forced a lot of turnovers in the first five minutes," Evans said. "The first five minutes of the second half is what really makes the game go on. We played hard those first five minutes into the media timeout and after that, the game went on."

The Dukes will look to use their second-half momentum against Penn State to down Western Michigan when they travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. at 2 p.m. Saturday.