City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Duquesne spoiled Phil Martelli’s second consecutive attempt at getting his 400th win, beating St. Joseph’s 78-70 on Saturday evening. The Hawks ended their regular season with back-to-back losses, the first time this season they’ve lost twice in a row. They also finish the Atlantic 10 season at 13-5, missing out on a chance at tying for first place in the conference.

At first…
Duquesne led for most of the game, and jumped out to a 37-28 lead late in the first half. The Dukes shot 50 percent in the first half and went to the locker room with a four-point advantage.

Turning point…
As the fans in Hagan Arena kept waiting for their Hawks to go on a run, it never happened. Instead, Duquesne guard Micah Mason stole the show with a game-high 28 points. He hit a 3-pointer with 1:06 left on the clock that doubled the Dukes’ lead to 76-70.

Standout stars…
Mason got his 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting and hit five 3-pointers. It was the second consecutive game that an opposing player has scored at least 28 points against St. Joe’s this week as St. Bonaventure’s Marcus Posley went off for 47 against the team on Wednesday.

Noteworthy numbers…
With a fastbreak layup in the second half, Isaiah Miles eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career. The senior forward had just 444 points entering the season and finished with a team-best 21 points against the Dukes. …St. Joe’s shot 37.1 percent from the floor and missed nine of its 20 foul shots.