No. 11 Duquesne (16-15, 6-12) faces No. 14 La Salle (8-21, 4-14) tonight at 9 p.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship.
The Dukes will make their third consecutive appearance at the Atlantic 10 Championship under fourth-year head coach Jim Ferry. Tonight marks the second Atlantic 10 Championship battle between the two teams and the second meeting this season.
The Dukes defeated the Explorers 87-60 in Pittsburgh on Jan. 26. In the only other Atlantic 10 Championship meeting, No. 7 La Salle defeated No. 10 Duquesne 82-79 in a first round game at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Mar. 12, 2008, according to goduquesne.com.
Ferry looks to become the first Duquesne coach since John Carroll in 1994 and 1995 to lead the Dukes to back-to-back opening round wins.
Tonight marks the second time and second-straight year that Duquesne will enter the championship as a No. 11 seed. Ferry guided the Dukes to a win over Saint Louis in the first round last year.
The winner of tonight’s game moves on to face No. 6 seed Davidson (18-11, 10-8) on Thursday at 9 p.m.
Photo by Rachel Konieczny
