Going into last night's game at Duquesne, the men's basketball team went gunning for its first road win of the season. Standing in the way was a team with an 11-game losing streak and a not-so-secret weapon.

The Lions (9-4, 3-2 in the Atlantic 10) barely broke their road jinx as the Dukes (1-13, 0-5 in the Atlantic 10) took advantage of some of the Lions' second-half mistakes, pulling to within six more than once before they finally lost, 64-56.

With a team roster whittled to nine by injuries, Duquesne was forced to start a walk-on at point guard. First year coach John Carroll, a former assistant at Seton Hall, needed a real pistol leading the offense to have any hope of pulling off the upset.

That weapon was forward Mark Stevenson, who transferred from Notre Dame this year. Stevenson averages 28 points per game and finished the night with 29. He alone gave the Lions a huge scare, especially at the foul line.

"(Stopping Stevenson) is tough to do," Coach Bruce Parkhill said. "Nobody else has been able to that. I feel we did a good job on him in the first half, but we put him on the foul line too much in the second half. We didn't let him get any easy shots. Monie Brown did a really good job on him while he was in and so did Michael Jennings."

Freddie Barnes controlled the opening tip and tried in vain to set up an alley-oop. Brown got the rebound but Ed Fogell turned the ball over. Stevenson ended up with it and scored first. It was the Dukes' only lead of the game. Stevenson scored nine more points in the half and played excellent defense, but his efforts weren't enough.

Penn State built to a 30-21 halftime lead, primarily on the efforts of James Barnes and DeRon Hayes. Each scored six points and Barnes contributed seven rebounds. The Lions only shot 40 percent from the field in the half, the Dukes 33 percent.

But the major factor for the Lions was turnovers, or lack of them. They only turned the ball over four times during the half, despite their 19.5 per game average. And there was more of the same in the second half.

"I was happy that we could get the win," Parkhill said, "but I feel we played in spurts again. We played real well at times, and then just when we looked like we were going to break it open, we'd put them at the foul line or let them jump right back in it."

The Lions opened the second half in grand style as Freddie Barnes canned a three-pointer after running just a few seconds from the clock. Stevenson then committed an uncharacteristic turnover and James Barnes scored on a layup to quickly extend the lead to 35-21.

The half continued in much the same fashion except for occasional outbursts from Stevenson. Freddie Barnes continued to light a fire under the Lions' offense, hitting another two three-pointers in the half. All 12 of his points came from those outside shots.

"Freddie's got the green light," Parkhill said. "Actually, Monie and the other kids have got it too. Although tonight we really thought we could get the ball inside and that proved to be the case when we did execute. I felt the guys took the jump shot a little too quickly."

The only real threat came from mistakes the Lions made themselves. Hayes missed some key foul shots in the final few minutes and Penn State fouled the wrong person -- Stevenson, who has been nearly perfect from the free-throw stripe all season.

"These guys have been playing people real tough," Parkhill said. "It's a good win for us."