LORETTO, Pa. -- Aaron Jackson did his best to make sure Duquesne didn't lose a basketball game it tried to give away in the worst way.

Thanks to Jackson's 20 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 7 steals, Duquesne held on to defeat Saint Francis, 83-72, last night at DeGol Arena. The Dukes (2-0) had to overcome free-throw shooting that would make grade-schoolers blush, some ill-advised shot selection and shaky ballhandling.

Duquesne also had to withstand Devin Sweetney's career-high 25 points for Saint Francis (0-3).

Duquesne coach Ron Everhart said he planned to march his players into the gym to shoot free throws when they returned home last night after watching the Dukes go 8 of 25 from the line. That was Jackson's suggestion.

"We scorched it from the line, didn't we," Everhart said with tongue firmly in his cheek. "When you go 8 of 25, you're fortunate to walk out of any place with a win."

Everhart said the Dukes have shot well in practice and don't leave the gym until the team makes 75 of 100 with everybody shooting.

"We haven't had to run for bad foul shooting in a week and a half," Everhart said. "We're going to talk about that foul shooting. I'm going to do a lot of screaming and yelling."

As for Jackson's performance, Everhart said: "That's about as good a stat line as you're going to see. He put us on his back and carried us home."

Jackson received support from teammates Eric Evans (16 points), Bill Clark (12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) and Damian Saunders (11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, 3 steals), who was limited to 19 minutes because of foul difficulty.

Everhart was forced to make a decision when Saunders picked up his second foul, both on reach-ins, before the game was five minutes old.

He gambled and sat Saunders for the remainder of the first half.

It took the Dukes quite awhile to adjust to life without Saunders, the team's most active and disruptive player on the press and the only presence underneath at both ends of the floor.

"It was a huge decision," Everhart said of removing the 6-foot-7 sophomore. "Our team functions a whole lot better with Damian in the game. I thought we were better off making sure we had some wiggle room and get him in there down the stretch."

Duquesne never did find an answer for Sweetney, whose 18 points in the first half included a few 3-pointers. Saint Francis made 6 of 12 from behind the arc to forge a 36-32 lead two minutes before intermission. The Dukes got some offensive help in those final seconds from two unlikely players who had just entered the game. Jimmy Sherwood hit a 3-pointer and Rodrigo Peggau made a driving one-hander in the lane, a free throw and a reverse layup to give Duquesne a 40-36 advantage at halftime.

The Dukes never trailed in the second half and maintained a lead of double digits most of the way.

"We had to do a lot of things in this game that we hadn't worked on," Everhart said. "It was a tough game for us. You saw our young guys get exploited."

He added after a pause, "But to get a win on the road is important. Any kind of win."

NOTES -- The Dukes had 17 assists, 15 turnovers and 11 steals; Saint Francis 15, 18 and 9 ... The next game is against Furman at 2 p.m. Sunday.