Tommie Liddell hit a go-ahead layup with 2:00 to play and St. Louis held Duquesne without a basket the rest of the way in posting a 78-77 victory in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament on Wednesday.
Duquesne, which recovered from the tragedy of having five players shot in an on-campus incident in September to make the conference tournament, had a chance to tie the game with 7.6 seconds to play, but Scott Grote missed the second of two free throws.
The Dukes got one final chance when Ian Vouyoukas missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 6.2 seconds left, but Kevin Lisch stripped the ball from Aaron Jackson as he went to shoot with about two seconds to play. Jackson got an off-balance shot off after recovering the ball, but it was uncertain whether it would have counted.
As usual with this team, they have to make it interesting, even when they are playing a team that was 10-17 and had lost seven games in a row. I'm glad they won, but I'm also glad I didn't have to watch it because I'm certain it would have driven me nuts. Seeing IV brick front ends in the last ten seconds might have been enough to finish me off.
Hopefully this win will be enough to ensure a place in the NIT. I just cannot see this team going on a tournament run of any length, in the A-10 or anywhere else, but it is good for the younger guys to get some tournament experience.
UMass is up next.
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