It was an escape.

No more, no less.

This was a hurdle the newfangled Duquesne men's basketball program was supposed to spring over with average effort: playing host to a .500 team from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in a game in which Las Vegas oddsmakers thought the Dukes would win by a dozen or so points.

It was nowhere near as simple as anticipated.

Duquesne (8-3) got all it wanted from Canisius (4-5) -- a clawing, pulling, tugging effort from the Golden Griffins before the Dukes came away with an 86-77 double-overtime victory last night at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

Dukes coach Ron Everhart perhaps summarized the game best when he said, "We probably had no business winning this game ... . The only reason we won this game is because we were in pretty damn good shape."

Duquesne swingman B.J. Monteiro had the finest game in his career, scoring 27 points. His layup with 4.9 seconds remaining in regulation sent the game into overtime.

Bill Clark, who has hit an icy stretch the past two weeks, struggled through 0-of-6 shooting from 3-point range, although he finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Damian Saunders was his usual self, notching a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and made countless hustle plays for the Dukes in some of the most consequential sequences.

"An absolute warrior," Everhart called Saunders. "From an effort standpoint, I sure can't fault anyone on this ball club."

That much was particularly clear on the defensive end, as the Dukes were 5 for 27 from 3-point range and 15 for 29 from the free-throw line but won the game without the ball in their hands, holding Canisius to 12-for-45 shooting in the second half and overtimes.

"We came out of the locker room and I told them, 'If you want to pout about [not making shots], stay in the locker room. If you want to defend and try to win this game, then come out with us," Everhart said. "We weren't doing anything right in the first half. We weren't doing anything we practiced to get ready for this game. But you have to hand it to our kids: They guarded in the second half and in the overtimes, and we were somehow able to pull it out."

Canisius guard Frank Turner tried his best to stop Duquesne from pulling it out, causing fits all game in the backcourt and scoring 23 points.

Duquesne trailed by four points -- 67-63 -- with 50 seconds left in regulation. But the Dukes got a free throw from Monteiro with 40 seconds left and a layup from Saunders about 15 seconds later before the real heroics began.

The game traversed into overtime at 68-68, only because Monteiro made a move to the basket and converted that game-tying layup with 4.9 seconds remaining.

Canisius hurriedly rushed down the floor and got a semi-decent look at a winner in regulation, but Turner's shot from between the top of the key and midcourt, with Saunders rushing over to get a hand in his face, missed the mark.

Jason Duty scored the first points of the initial overtime, drilling a long 3-pointer from the deep right wing to put the Dukes ahead, 71-68.

The Dukes could only muster one more point in the first overtime -- a free throw by Eric Evans with 1:58 remaining and were held scoreless from there, and the period ended at 72-72.

But the Dukes held Canisius to five points in those final five minutes to pull out the win.

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NOTE -- Sam Ashaolu, a former Duquesne player who was the most seriously wounded of the five Duquesne basketball players shot in September 2006, will receive his degree today in a graduation ceremony at 11 a.m. Ashaolu, who was never able to play basketball again after being shot in the head, was kept on scholarship by the school and earned a communications degree.

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