Duquesne found itself in a tie late in its Atlantic 10 Conference opener last night at the Palumbo Center, so Dukes coach Ron Everhart did what any coach would do -- he drew up a play for his star senior.

And, as is usually the case, senior Aaron Jackson did not let his coach down. Jackson took the ball off an inbounds play and scored with 1:22 left to give the Dukes a two-point lead. Jackson then made a steal on the ensuing 49ers possession and assisted on a layup by Damian Saunders that pushed the Dukes' lead to four points.

Duquesne won the game against Charlotte, 76-71, in front of 1,935 at the Palumbo Center, but there was no doubt Jackson was the star and the biggest reason the Dukes are 1-0 in the conference.

"It was a game of runs, and they made the last run, and we didn't respond," Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. "Their kid, Jackson, was terrific; he was the big difference in the game. If he switched teams, we would have won the game."

The victory was a huge one for Duquesne (10-4 overall), considering it was both the conference opener and a home game.

Jackson, who became the 32nd player at Duquesne to surpass 1,000 career points, led all scorers with 30 and added six assists. But he didn't think there was anything special about his performance other than it helped the Dukes get an important win.

"It was a drawn-up play, and I am glad my coaches had faith in me to get the basket," Jackson said. "I wasn't looking at it as me taking over down the stretch. I was just letting the game come to me, but, in the huddle, my teammates looked to me and said I could get it done. I made a couple of key plays down the stretch, but this was a team win."

The game was close throughout with many lead changes. Neither team was able to build much of a cushion.

Duquesne took its biggest lead in the first half when Jackson made a layup to make it 20-13. The 49ers quickly trimmed the lead to 30-28, but the Dukes made a 5-0 run to rebuild a seven-point cushion.

Charlotte, however, made the final run of the half and tied the score, 35-35, on a four-point play by Charlie Coley with time running down on the shot clock.

Duquesne made another burst midway through the second half to take a 62-55 lead, but the 49ers responded with a 14-7 run over the next seven minutes. The score was tied, 69-69, with 3:37 left.

Neither team scored over the next two minutes, prompting the timeout call by Everhart with 1:27 left. That's when he set up Jackson's heroics.

"They went man coming out of that timeout, and I knew that in man they couldn't guard Aaron," said Duquesne forward Bill Clark, who had 15 points and 14 rebounds.

"I told him to take this thing home right now, and we ran our play, he scored and we took the lead, and that carried us through."

Duquesne had two other players in double figures, Saunders had 12 points to go with 11 rebounds and Jason Duty added 10 points. Coley led Charlotte (5-8, 0-1) with 17 points.