Duquesne fell short of the Villanova Challenge championship Saturday night against the host team, but not without a fight.
Acaden Lewis scored 19 points and Bryce Landsay added 18 to lead Villanova past Duquesne, 87-77, at Fineran Pavilion in Villanova in the title game of a multi-team event that also included Queens and Sacred Heart.
Matt Hodge added 15 points for the Wildcats, who won their third straight.
Both teams entered the final having won their first two games of the event.
The outcome spoiled a 30-point outburst by Duquesne point guard Tarence Guinyard as the Dukes (3-1) suffered their first loss.
Guinyard, a UT Martin transfer, shot 10 for 15 with four assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Villanova (3-1) overcame Duquesne’s early first-half control with a 16-4 run en route to a 45-35 halftime lead.
Duquesne closed within 59-53 in the second half on a basket by Jimmie Williams with 13 minutes, 18 seconds remaining.
Williams, a South Florida transfer, added 18 points for the Dukes.
But the Wildcats used a 7-0 run push the lead back to double digits.
“Overall, I thought we did some good things,” Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III said. “We’ve got to take better care of the basketball, and we’ve got to win on the boards.”
Duquesne committed 17 turnovers and was outrebounded 41-29 with big man John Hugley IV battling foul trouble.
The 6-foot-11 Hugley was coming off back-to-back performances of 25 and 27 points in the event’s first two games.
“We played hard tonight,” Joyce said.
Duquesne returns home to face Loyola (Md.) on Wednesday at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
