Will Stover | staff writer

Tarence Guinyard exploded for 23 points, including 19 in the second half, as Duquesne men’s basketball secured a crucial 71-59 A10 road victory over Loyola Chicago on Saturday afternoon at Gentile Arena. The win marks the first time in program history that the Dukes have brought home their first three conference wins on the road.

Duquesne opened the game with energy, jumping to an early 8-3 lead. But Loyola wouldn’t stay quiet in front of their home crowd. The Ramblers answered with five straight points to tie the game, capped by a layup from Joshua Ola-Joseph. Then Ola-Joseph struck again on an offensive rebound opportunity that gave Loyola Chicago their first lead of the game.

The lead changed hands throughout the opening half as both teams struggled to gain separation. Loyola used a 7-0 run to grab momentum midway through the period. Miles Rubin and Alexander Richardson took advantage of the paint, giving the Ramblers three-point leads twice by the 4:42 mark. Just when it seemed Loyola might carry momentum into halftime, Duquesne’s defense tightened.

The Dukes unleashed an electric 11-0 run that shifted the game’s trajectory, with six points coming at the free-throw line. Daniil Glazkov connected on a late three-pointer to keep the Ramblers within striking distance, but the damage was done. Duquesne took a 34-28 advantage into the locker room, with Jimmie Williams leading all scorers with 11 first-half points.

“We needed to clean up some things on offense,” Guinyard said after the game. “We defended well, but offensively, we had to do better.”

Duquesne extended their lead to eight with six unanswered points early in the second half. Several Loyola players chipped in to make it a one-possession game near the midway point, and Amos converted free throws to pull within two at 49-47 with just under 10 minutes remaining. That’s when Duquesne’s veterans took over.

On the very next possession, senior forward David Dixon drove to the basket and converted a crucial layup. That basket sparked a game-deciding 13-3 run that opened up a 62-50 lead with just over five minutes to play. Then Guinyard, the senior guard who had been relatively quiet in the first half, turned into a one-man wrecking crew.

“[Guinyard] found a great rhythm,” Duquesne Head Coach Dru Joyce III said to Duquesne Athletics. “He got out in transition. We put the ball in his hands. We like our chances in ball screens, and he buried them.”

Guinyard drained back-to-back three-pointers two minutes later, giving Duquesne their first double-digit lead of the contest and effectively ending Loyola’s hopes of a comeback. The sharpshooter finished 7-of-14 from the field, including a scorching 6 of 10 from 3-point range, dominating the second half with 19 of his 23 points.

“I do a good job of being a guard controlling the game,” Guinyard said. “It rubs off on the other guys. They know, as we get further into the game towards the end, who’s going to control the pace and control the game, and I’ve just been blessed enough to make big-time shots. They feel comfortable with me having the ball in my hands.”

Williams contributed 16 points and recorded his first career double-double with a career-high 10 rebounds. The Dukes shot 43.4 percent from the field while holding Loyola to just 19.2 percent from three-point range (5-of-26).

The victory represents more than just another conference win for Duquesne. It’s evidence of their defensive improvement after early-season struggles.

“That’s been something we’ve been struggling with early in the season, but lately we’ve been able to hold teams to 60,” Guinyard said. “That’s just the biggest part we had in that game and what we wanted to do moving forward.”

Currently sitting sixth in the A10 in defensive efficiency, the Dukes are knocking on the door of the conference’s elite defensive units.

“We came up to sixth in the conference defense, trying to break that top-five threshold,” Guinyard said. “Once we get there, we’ll be in pretty good standing going to the tournament and trying to get a top-three seed.”

This emphasis on defense and late-game execution addresses the issues that affected Duquesne earlier in the season, and will continue to be crucial as the Dukes push on toward the back half of their conference schedule.

“Our efforts continue to get better,” Joyce said to Duquesne Athletics. “Sometimes you have to plug the gaps you see. Strategically we tried to change a couple of things about how we offensive rebound, but all in all it’s will and effort of how you want to defend and cover in transition. The game is going to be played in transition. I thought we handled ourselves well both in transition as well as the half court.”

Will Stover can be reached at stoverw1@duq.edu