NEW YORK (AP) Jhamir Brickus racked up 23 points while Khalil Brantley contributed 22 as 11th-seeded La Salle powered past No. 6 overall Duquesne 81-70 on Wednesday night in the final second round contest of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship.

With the victory, the Explorers advance to the quarterfinals of the A-10 Championship to battle No. 3 Fordham, gametime set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday evening with national broadcast via USA Network.

"I thought we were ready to go," La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy. "The start of the second half, I thought we played well. These two guys (Brickus and Brantley) were great. [Duquesne] takes you out of a lot of the offense you want to run, and it really just comes down to playing basketball. These two guys led us in playing basketball. They got to the rim, they dished, they scored some. But it's a pleasure to watch them do their thing together, sort of like a fire and ice, as it were."

Brickus also contributed three steals for the Explorers (15-18). Brantley added six rebounds and six assists.

Jimmy Clark III finished with 27 points, six rebounds and four steals for the Dukes (20-12). Joe Reece tacked on 13 points, two steals and two blocks for Duquesne. Dae Dae Grant also recorded 13 points.

Brickus' 19-point second half helped La Salle close out the 11-point victory, overcoming a 33-27 deficit at the midway deficit.

"They did a great job of isolating us," Duquesne head coach Keith Dambrot said of the second half. "Looked like we kind of died on the vine physically and mentally, and they exploited us. From that point on, we really didn't guard them the whole second half. We defended well in the first half, but not very well in the second half. And then we didn't shoot the ball well at all pretty much the whole night until maybe the end."

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.