Duquesne pulls out win over Sacred Heart on 25-point performances from Hugley, Guinyard

Back in Pittsburgh again, John Hugley IV was having a ball Friday night at Duquesne’s UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.

“Big John” was putting on a show.

“We want to excite the crowd and feed off their energy. It rolls both ways,” Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III said after the Dukes beat Sacred Heart, 92-80, to make it 2 for 2 against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponents to start the season.

“The crowd is looking to feed off the energy of the players, too.”

Hugley, whose college career began five years ago at Pitt, certainly was doing his part, demonstrating a variety of imitations and hand gestures virtually every time he scored.

And each time, the crowd was aroused, acknowledging the big fellow’s passion.

“This city means so much to me, whether I was at Pitt or now at Duquesne,” said the 6-foot-10, 265-pound Hugley, who joined Tarence Guinyard in scoring 25 points apiece to power Duquesne (2-0) in the opening game of the Villanova Challenge.

“These fans mean the world to me. Not even having a full house, whoever’s in here, just know we appreciate and love you. The season’s going to get bigger, we’re going to get better and more fans will keep rolling in. We want to fill it up.”

The announced crowd was 2,112 inside 3,500-seat Cooper Fieldhouse.

The multi-team event (MTE) continues Saturday with Queens playing at Villanova.

Two more games are scheduled for Tuesday night as Duquesne entertains Queens at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse and Sacred Heart plays at Villanova.

Play wraps up Nov. 15, when Duquesne visits Villanova and Sacred Heart goes to Queens.

Duquesne’s second straight meeting with a MAAC team proved to be a bigger challenge. But like they did in an 83-63 victory over Niagara on Monday, the Dukes came out on top again against Sacred Heart.

It took some doing.

“There was a moment in the second half where we dug down, defensively, and that gave us cushion, and we were able to extend the lead,” Joyce said. “We were able to get out in front because of our defense and that led to some easy baskets.”

Jimmie Williams contributed 13 points and Maximus Edwards hit for 10 for Duquesne to reach 1,000 points in a career that began in 2023 at George Washington, when he was the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year before transferring to the Dukes before the start of last season.

It was the ninth 20-point game for Hugley, but his first since his sophomore season at Pitt. He shot 9 for 17, contributed eight rebounds and four assists and converted all seven of his free-throw attempts.

The last time Hugley scored at least 20 points in a game was for the Panthers on Feb. 22, 2022, against Miami.

“This is what he’s capable of,” Joyce said. “He can dominate the paint and be an enforcer on both ends. He’s got a great feel and IQ for the game. He’s going to continue to get better as his confidence grows. He’s a young man that is a good player but unsure. That happens when you go through some difficult and challenging seasons. He’s got more in his tank.

“Tarence Guinyard was really good tonight, too,” Joyce said. “He also really set a tone and a poise for us.”

Guinyard, who shot 5 for 10 and converted 13 of 15 free throws, also contributed seven assists, four steals and three rebounds while making just one turnover.

But it was Hugley’s flamboyant presence that captured night.

After spending three sometimes-tumultuous seasons at Pitt, Hugley bounced around, making stops at Oklahoma and Xavier before settling in at Duquesne, where he’s taking pride as the team’s elder statesman .

“I just want to give — first and foremost — the glory to God. Without him, I wouldn’t be here in this position,” Hugley said. “Just me knowing myself and knowing who I am, knowing my work, knowing what I can do has allowed me to score (at least) 20 points today in this game. Having a city and a coaching staff and teammates who believe in me, I’m just having fun out there and it’s a dream come true.”

Sacred Heart (1-1), picked to finish third in the MAAC behind Quinnipiac and Siena — Niagara was picked next-to-last at 12th — was led by Nyle Ralph-Beyer’s 17 points.

Dashon Gittens added 16 points and Anquan Hill, a preseason first-team all-MAAC pick, wound up with 13, despite sitting out all but 2 minutes in the first half with four fouls, including a technical.

Hill, a 6-foot-9 senior and a former Northeast Conference freshman of the year at Fairleigh Dickinson, scored all his points in the second half.

Sacred Heart stayed withing striking distance in the first half, even taking a pair of one-point leads, and never trailed by double digits until the second half.

When Guinyard dished to Williams on a second-half fast break and Williams dumped off to Cam Crawford for any easy layup, Duquesne finally got its advantage to 10 points, 60-50, with 14:57 left.

From there, the Dukes steadily pulled away.

Duquesne shot 43.9% (29 for 66) but made just 8 of 35 3-point attempts (22.9).

Meanwhile, Sacred Heart went 21 for 56 (37.5%) and made 7 of 30 3-pointers (23.3).

“We had some good balance. We had some makable shots that we missed,” Joyce said. “But when you’re getting good shots and the ball movement is good, you can’t complain about that.”

The Dukes edged the Pioneers in rebounding, 45-43.

A raggedly played first half ended with Duquesne on top, 45-42, despite being outshot by the Pioneers.

After Sacred Heart took its final lead at 34-33, Williams canned a 3-pointer with 3:53 to go before intermission to hand Duquesne the upper hand for good.

Hugley’s playful antics throughout the contest created a buzz in the arena.

“Just continuing to trust in my work,” he said.

Joyce insisted he’s on board with Hugley’s high-energy enthusiasm, so long as it doesn’t detract from the finer points.

“I’m OK with it as long as we get defensive stops,” Joyce said. “If we’re allowing teams to get layups as soon as they take the ball out, then we have an issue on our hands. You probably saw me jump up and down a couple times tonight.”

With that came what might’ve appeared as a mischievous look from Hugley.

“Just want to be able to express my joy for the game,” he said.