It took overtime for Duquesne to pass its first serious test against an unlikely opponent. Queens, a fourth-year Division I program, gave the Dukes a spirited challenge Tuesday night.

In the end, Duquesne won out.

John Hugley IV scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and the Dukes overcame a furious Queens comeback to outlast the Royals, 87-81, at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, their third straight win to start the season and second in as many games in the Villanova Challenge.

“I just want to tip my hat to Queens. They’re a really good program, led by a great coach (Grant Leonard) with great players over there,” said Hugley, the Xavier transfer and former Pitt big man who is in his first season at Duquesne. “They came in and fought pretty hard. I just think we put up the better fight.”

Charlotte, N.C.-based Queens, a former Division II power with two NCAA Final Four appearances and four trips to the Elite Eight, entered its fourth season in Division I as the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Sun Conference championship after going 20-15 a year ago.

Queens split a pair of games in the College Basketball Invitational, losing to Cleveland State in the quarterfinals.

It was the first 20-win season for the Royals since stepping up in class at the start of the 2022-23 season.

After surviving the night, Duquesne (3-0) heads to Villanova (2-1) on Saturday for the multi-team event’s final game at 8 p.m. at Finneran Pavilion.

The Wildcats rolled past Sacred Heart, 94-60, Tuesday night.

Hugley’s time last season at Xavier — he played in 34 games for the Musketeers — offered a chance to play against Villanova in Big East action. He said he’s ecstatic to have another chance to play there.

“I’m super excited to go into Villanova and play that game,” said Hugley, who was coming off a 25-point performance in Duquesne’s 92-80 victory over Sacred Heart on Friday at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in the Dukes’ opening game of the Villanova Challenge.

“We’re probably going to be counted out, but that’s what I love. I’ve been counted out all my life. Just going in there with that chip on our shoulder — no team in the country practices as hard as we do — and seeing Villanova, that’s just going to be another game for us.”

Earlier, Queens (1-3) entertains Sacred Heart in the day’s first game of the Villanova Challenge, looking to salvage a victory in the event.

The Royals dropped a 94-74 decision to the Wildcats on Saturday before falling to Duquesne.

“I watched that Villanova game, and they turned the ball over three or four times in a row,” Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III said. “(Queens) climbed back in and almost cut it to single digits. I knew the resilience of that team. They kept fighting, and they showed it again tonight. They had another gear that they tried to shift into. I think we helped with that with some of our play. But in the end, we did enough to figure it out. We had some guys with big-time shots, and we got great production in the game once again.”

Maximus Edward added 16 points, Jakub Necas followed with 12 points and chipped in eight rebounds and Tarence Guinyard, the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week, finished with 10 points, including four in a span of 14 seconds to secure the victory against Queens in the final minute of overtime.

Duquesne outscored Queens in the paint, 56-32, but the Royals outrebounded the Dukes, 46-42.

Yoav Berman led Queens with 22 points. He was joined in double figures by Nasir Mann, with 16, Chris Ashby — the A-Sun Preseason Player of the Year — with 13, and Avantae Parker, with 12.

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Duquesne allowed a 21-point first-half lead slip away to a 41-32 margin over Queens at halftime.

“Basketball happens,” Joyce said. “We got off to a good start. We had some good looks to expand that lead, but we got away from some things we did good. During that run and for the first half, every time we touched the paint, we scored. We should’ve shown more poise and patience, and that led (Queens) being able to get into transition. They rebounded the ball well. It allowed them to get going.”

The Dukes on several occasions seemingly enjoyed comfortable leads in the second half, but the Royals made things difficult, rallying to take the lead late in regulation before the Dukes pulled even and survived Berman’s misfired 3-point shot at the buzzer that sent the game into overtime.

Queens started fast in the extra frame.

Mann’s driving layup gave the Royals a 75-73 lead before Duquesne responded with seven unanswered points to seize the lead for good.

A pair of Hugley free throws knotted the score again, then Necas scored in traffic on a driving layup to put the Dukes in front to stay.

Cam Crawford’s 3-pointer from the top of the key — his only points of the night — made it 80-75 with 3:15 left.

Three straight Queens free throws pulled the Royals within 80-78, but it was as close as they’d get the rest of the way.

The Dukes were ahead by 35-14 on freshman Dom Aekins’ jumper at the 5:45 mark before the Royals went on an 18-6 run to close within nine points heading to the locker room.

Queens continued to chip away to start the second half, closing within 45-38 on four straight points by Parker.

Duquesne pushed the lead back to double digits for a time on Edwards’ driving layup and a three-point play by Hugley for a 50-38 cushion.

Duquesne, behind Edwards’ back-to-back 3-pointers and a David Dixon dunk and free throw for a three-point play, took a 65-52 lead.

“It was electric,” Hugley said of Dixon’s running, tomahawk jam. “That gave me so much energy and belief. I feel like it gave the whole gym energy and belief that anything is possible.”

But, like most of the night, the Dukes couldn’t shake Queens.

The Royals used a 19-6 run and took their first lead of the game with exactly two minutes remaining in regulation on Mann’s 3-point shot for a 71-70 edge.

Necas’ 3-point shot pushed Duquesne back into the lead, 73-71, before Parker’s jumper with 48 seconds left in regulation tied it again and sent the game into overtime.

“It’s very important to face a game like this at the beginning of the year,” Hugley said.

Asked about his back-to-back big scoring outputs, Hugley just shrugged.

“I don’t even look at the scoreboard to see how many points I got,” said the 6-foot-10, 265-pound senior. “I’m out here just trying to play the right way, trying to lead these guys to an A-10 championship. That’s the bigger goal here, rather than filling up the stats sheet. I’m just trying to be here, be a great person, be a great big brother and lead the right way.”

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