St Josephs (Penn.) St.Joes(PA)/Duquesne Duquesne Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

That doesn't mean the experience the Hawks (No. 24 ESPN/USA Today, No. 23 AP) gained Sunday in rallying from nine points down to easily beat Duquesne 90-70 in a hostile environment won't benefit them come tournament time.

Marvin O'Connor scored 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting and the Hawks, coming off three consecutive losing seasons, clinched a tie for the Atlantic 10 regular season title.

Frank Wilkins added 14 points as the Hawks (23-4, 13-1) won their ninth in a row and 17th in 18 games, wearing down the smaller Dukes (9-19, 3-12) with their outside shooting and transition game.

"We were saying early in the season they might have the best team in our conference, and they proved us right," Duquesne coach Darelle Porter said. "They have the complete package. O'Connor can hit shots with a hand in his face and they are good inside and have good depth."

St. Joseph's, which has lost only once since Dec. 17, got a scare in the first half as Duquesne – playing its final home game – opened a 23-14 lead behind Courtney Wallace's scoring. He finished with 21 points.

But once the Hawks found a rhythm with their running game, the Dukes never caught up. St. Joseph's took the lead for good at 39-37 as O'Connor hit a driving layup at the halftime buzzer, and they started the second half with five consecutive points to complete a turnaround 13-0 run that made it 44-37.

"That spurt at the end of the first half really turned it," said Hawks coach Phil Martelli, whose team is 10-3 on the road. "Until then, we didn't think we were very consistent defensively, and I think we were much better than that in the second half."

With O'Connor hitting pullup jumpers and the 6-foot-9 Wilkins and 6-10 Bill Phillips too much for Duquesne to handle inside, St. Joseph's later went on a 9-0 run to pull away again after the Dukes briefly closed to within four points.

"We have a lot of veteran guys who have been here a while, and we knew that even when we got down, we can't panic – that can't help," O'Connor said. "We had to go out and start guarding them and try to execute."

That 9-0 run, finished off by Wilkins' driving layup, gave St. Joseph's a 65-52 lead and the Hawks cruised after that to their 10th victory in their last 11 games against Duquesne. They outscored the Dukes 51-33 in the second half.

"We told our guys that O'Connor leaks out of there (on the break) even if his man shoots, and they really burned us on that," Porter said. "That really took our momentum away."

Phillips had 10 points and Jameer Nelson had nine points and 10 assists for the Hawks, who shot 53.3 percent (32-of-60). Nelson, a freshman point guard who averages 12 points, has made a major difference in a team that was 13-16 a season ago.

St. Joseph's has its best record at this point of the season since it was 25-4 in 1991-82. The Hawks' only loss in the last two months was at Xavier on Jan. 20.

"We were very efficient here, and now we move on," Martelli said. "We've been down and kicked around, but now is our time and we're going to enjoy the day."

Duquesne, playing its first ranked opponent this season, lost its 10th in 12 games. Unless the Dukes can win Wednesday at Rhode Island, they are all but assured of losing at least 20 games for the third consecutive season.

With only one conference loss and two games remaining, the Hawks will win the Atlantic 10 regular season if they win Tuesday at home against Massachusetts (13-12, 11-3) or Saturday at La Salle.

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Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

St Josephs (Penn.) Clubhouse

Duquesne Clubhouse