Duquesne grabbed a 20-7 lead in the first seven minutes. La Salle chipped away, taking a 28-26 edge on Darryl Partin's jump shot. La Salle's last lead was 31-30 on Paul Johnson's trey. Duquesne's answer was a trey from Reggie Jackson (33-31). The game was tied at 35-35 with 3:31 to go in the first half. La Salle battled from a deficit from then on.
The next basket, a minute-and-half later, was a trey by Gary Tucker, DU up 38-35. The Dukes went to halftime leading, 45-37.
In the second half, the Dukes kept the margin to eight or more until Darnell Harris hit a 3-pointer at 11:18. Another Harris trey got the hosts within two, 65-63, at the 10:30 mark.
First Reggie, then Aaron Jackson, then Reggie again, canned threes to put the Dukes up 11, 74-63, 8:16 to go.
La Salle got within nine a couple times, but no closer. The largest difference was 20, 101-84, on a Tucker dunk in the last minute. A trey by Sherman Diaz with six seconds left cut the final result to 101-84.
Five Dukes were in double digits led by Achara's 21. Freshman Damian Saunders pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. Reggie Jackson tied his career best with 9 assists; Aaron had 8 assists. Achara also matched a career-best with five blocks.
La Salle, which put four players in double digits, was led Rodney Green's game-high 24 points. Jerrell Williams had nine rebounds and Paul Johnson had four assists and three steals.
The Dukes stay on the road, facing Dayton on Wednesday, then host Richmond Saturday evening.
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