It was a 3-pointfest in front of the 3-point king.
With NBA superstar and Davidson alum Stephen Curry seated courtside at John M. Belk Arena, the Duquesne Dukes spoiled a night of gala celebration for Curry and the Wildcats.
Tarence Guinyard scored 24 points and reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Jimmie Williams converted four consecutive free throws in the final 21 seconds of double overtime Tuesday to lift Duquesne to an 89-83 victory in the opening game of the A-10 season.
The victory was the first on the road for the Dukes against Davidson and just the second all-time in 15 games against the Wildcats.
“Just some great efforts from not only our guards,” Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III said, referring mainly to Guinyard and Jimmie Williams. “Maybe the biggest shot was Alex Williams tying the game. A lot of guys just stepped up in a huge way tonight.”
Williams’ 3-point shot for the Dukes with 13 seconds left in regulation knotted the score at 69-69 and sent the game into overtime, setting up a marathon finish.
“It’s awesome to experience this,” Joyce said. “You go through the summer and you’re kind of always building up for these moments. Tonight we got a chance to see it come to fruition. Our group stuck together and continued to fight. I thought we cut our teeth on the defensive end. Each time we needed a critical stop, we came through.”
To the delight of Curry, the teams combined to make 27 3-point shots in what served as a tribute of sorts to his iconic long-range shots.
Duquesne was 16 for 35 (46.0%) from behind the arc, while Davidson was 11 for 37 (30.0%).
During halftime, Curry, Davidson’s all-time leading scorer and the NBA’s all-time leading 3-point shooter, was honored during a ceremony commemorating the renaming of Interstate 77’s Exit 30 in Davidson as “Stephen Curry Interchange.”
Curry, who wears No. 30 for Golden State, will lead the Warriors against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night in Charlotte, N.C., 22 miles south of Davidson.
His 29 points Monday night paced Golden State to a 120-107 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in New York.
Guinyard shot 9 for 17 overall and made 5 of 12 from 3-point range for Duquesne (9-5, 1-0). He also contributed six assists.
The Dukes survived deficits in both overtimes, thanks in part to Guinyard’s shooting, to come out on top.
“It shows how hard we play to the end. It shows how competitive we are,” said Guinyard, Duquesne’s leading scorer at 16.4 points per game.
With Curry and several Warriors teammates looking on, Davidson led at halftime, 33-30. The teams were tied at 69-69 at the end of regulation and at 75-75 after the first overtime.
Jimmie Williams added 16 points and a career-high nine rebounds for Duquesne. Alex Williams and Maximus Edwards chipped in 13 apiece for the Dukes, who return home after New Year’s Day to take on defending A-10 champion VCU on Saturday afternoon at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse.
David Dixon, starting for a fourth consecutive game in place of inactive John Hugley, contributed a career-high 13 rebounds and three blocks.
Duquesne outrebounded Davidson, 53-39, even without the 6-foot-10, 265-pound Hugley.
Hugley, in his first season at Duquesne, is the Dukes’ second-leading scorer (15.4 ppg.) and rebounder (5.6 rpg.). But he’s not been with the team for the past three games in what has been deemed a “coach’s decision.”
Hugley, who previously spent three years at Pitt and one each at Oklahoma and Xavier before transferring to Duquesne, remains listed on the Dukes’ official roster.
For Davidson (8-5, 0-1), Sam Brown’s 23 points led the way. Parker Friedrichsen added 19 points and Roberts Blum contributed 17 for the Wildcats, who were coming off a 90-61 loss at No. 17 Kansas on Dec. 22.
Double overtime didn’t start the way Duquesne had hoped as Davidson jumped to an 80-75 lead.
But the Dukes ran off 10 straight points to go up 85-80 with 1:28 remaining, capped by Jakub Necas’ follow-up of a missed 3-point shot by Guinyard, who earlier buried one from long range to give Duquesne back the lead.
Davidson pulled within 85-83 on Friedrichsen’s 3-pointer before Duquesne secured the victory when Jimmie Williams hit four free throws in the final 12 seconds.
“Both teams were a little fatigued,” Joyce said. “Our will is pretty strong.”
Guinyard sparked a 6-0 run for Duquesne to open the first overtime, connecting on a pair of 3-point shots to send the Dukes to a 75-69 lead.
Davidson answered with six straight points to make it 75-75 heading to double overtime.
Davidson had taken a 69-66 lead on a basket by Brown with 23 seconds to go after Sean Logan made 1 of 2 free throws for the Wildcats to break a 66-66 tie.
Alex Williams’ 3-pointer for Duquesne knotted the score at 69-69 to force the first overtime period.
“Our attention to detail on defense was better tonight,” Joyce said. “We’ve lost some close games when we just didn’t get stops. Tonight we generated stops towards the end of the game and we finished plays with rebounds.”
Davidson tried to pull away from a three-point halftime lead but couldn’t shake Duquesne. The Dukes took their first lead on an Edwards 3-pointer to go up, 43-42.
Davidson went back in front with five straight points and kept the lead, which reached eight with 9:08 left on Brown’s three-point play to make it 58-50.
Duquesne clawed back and tied the score at 60-60 with 4:37 to go on two free throws by Dixon.
The teams traded baskets and were tied at 66-66 following Jimmie Williams’ 3-pointer with 2:04 remaining.
Davidson led from wire-to-wire during the first half, building an advantage as large as nine points before settling for a 33-30 lead heading to the second half.
