PITTSBURGH - The University of Massachusetts couldn't overcome a lot of foul trouble and even more turnovers as the Minutemen fell to Duquesne 80-69 Wednesday at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

The Minutemen committed 28 fouls, including a flurry of them early in the second half, that left coach Derek Kellogg with few choices. Kellogg was forced to play guys with four fouls because over half of his squad was in foul trouble. Sophomore point guard Chaz Williams picked up his fourth foul with 14 minutes, 12 seconds left in the second half. Terrell Vinson got his fourth with 11:36 left. Raphiael Putney picked up No. 4 33 seconds later and Maxie Esho was called for his 39 seconds after Putney.

"Foul trouble killed us today," Vinson said. "It's important to stay on the floor and help my team. I could see some things from the bench that I wanted to try to do in the game, but I couldn't stay on the floor."

Kellogg was disappointed with the types of fouls his team committed.

"I was frustrated. I thought we committed too many offensive fouls," he said. "Those are turnovers, a foul on us and in some cases (cost us) a basket. Those were some of the ones I was disheartened with. They really took advantage of our foul troubles."

No matter who was in the game, the Minutemen couldn't control the ball as UMass turned it over a season-high 29 times. Williams had seven turnovers before fouling out with 1:56 left. Jesse Morgan had eight. Duquesne turned those turnovers into 32 points.

"You're not going to beat anybody with 29 turnovers," senior Sean Carter said. "A lot of stuff inflicted pain on ourselves. It came down to fouls and turning the ball over every time we came down the court. We need to be able to adjust to the way the refs are calling the game and play smarter next time."

Despite all their struggles, the Minutemen (14-5, 3-2 Atlantic 10) were within four after a Freddie Riley 3-pointer with just under 7 minutes left. But B.J. Montiero led an 8-0 run that provided the knockout blow. Montiero led Duquesne (12-7, 3-2 A-10) with 23 points, while Sean Johnson added 20 points and 10 rebounds. Morgan was UMass' top scorer with 14 points, but 12 of those came in the first half. Carter had 12 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots.

The speed of the game lived up to pregame expectations as both teams raced up and down the floor. Even the officials had a hard time keeping up and were forced to make calls from behind the play on a few occasions. The Minutemen seemed uncomfortable with having a willing racing partner and turned the ball over 15 times in the first half. Williams (eight points) seemed particularly off his game with six turnovers and no points as he and Putney were held scoreless in the first half.

For all the scoring, there weren't many runs. Neither team led by more than four points in the first half. Duquesne scored the last five points of the half and took a 41-38 halftime lead.

UMass next plays at Richmond at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Follow UMass coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/GazetteUMass. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at http://www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.