Duquesne defeats BYU Basketball in the NCAA Tournament.

The BYU basketball program's successful season has come to a disappointing end. On Thursday, 11-seed Duquesne defeated 6-seed BYU, 71-67. On Thursday, BYU struggled with slow starts in both halves.

Duquesne started the first half with a 9-0 run. The Dukes opened the second half on an 8-2 run. The game was decided by a -15 point differential.

Duquesne forced BYU to play their style for the entire game. BYU only attempted 24 three-pointers, making eight of them.

Jaxson Robinson performed admirably for BYU in what will likely be his final game in a BYU uniform.He finished with 25 points on 8 of 15 shooting.

Duquesne (25-11) advanced to the second round for the first time since 1969, with Jakub Necas contributing 12 points and six rebounds. https://www.profitablegatecpm.com/qdu8xyxqi6?key=1f35fa952836943837172aa40cda4dc9

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Just a devastating day for us, for sure," said BYU coach Mark Pope, whose Cougars lost for the second time as a No. 6 seed after closing as 9.5-point favorites. "We lost, which is devastating. It's devastating because we refuse to move on. Most of all, it's devastating because we won't be able to work out together again.

"Major congratulations to Duquesne. "And I'm very proud of my guys," he added. "This is extremely painful, but I know how it goes. It will fade to some extent and be replaced by an insane amount of gratitude for these guys sitting here, what they've dedicated to each other and BYU, and what they've accomplished this year.

"And that will stay with us forever."

The Dukes started the game with a 12-2 run and then added a 14-1 run to lead by double digits again against a BYU team that led for only 29 seconds.

BYU missed its first six shots, including three 3-pointers, as Duquesne took a 7-0 lead, and Hall needed to be bandaged after receiving a stray elbow to the nose under the basket.

The Dukes held BYU scoreless from the field until Robinson's triple with 13:37 remaining in the half. Duquesne immediately responded, leading 14-5, but the Cougars responded with a 13-2 run to take their first lead on Robinson's triple with 7:25 remaining.

The Cougars' free-flowing, 3-point-focused offense delivers and takes away, sometimes in the same half.

At halftime, Robinson led all scorers with 13 points. However, Grant scored 12 points, and the Dukes shot 16-of-33 (48.5%) from the field to BYU's 9-of-26 (34.6%) for a 38-30 halftime lead.

The senior from Ada, Oklahoma, went 3-for-6 from the field, all from the perimeter, and Duquesne outscored the Cougars 16-8 in the paint, with 9 points off six turnovers to go ahead.

"That's a very high scoring team, and we knew that we had to play into the 60s, low 60s, mid 60s, and not much higher than it was for us to win," Dambrot said of the game. "That's just not how we win."

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