MHERST — Before each game, the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team sets five goals for itself.

"We try to stay under 12 turnovers, which is tough," coach Bruiser Flint said after the 80-69 win over Duquesne at the Springfield Civic Center. "We want to shoot at least 43 percent from the floor, 70 percent from the line and have a plus-5 rebounding margin. And we want to hold the other team below 40 percent shooting.

"If we can get at least three of those five, or four, we have a good chance to win."

The Minutemen accomplished three Saturday. They missed on turnovers (18), and free-throw percentage (66.7), but shot a season-high 55.2 percent, held Duquesne to 38.8 percent and owned a 38-33 rebounding edge.

Moreover, the win before 6,837 fans — the largest UMass home crowd this season — kept the Minutemen (6-10, 4-1 Atlantic 10) in the middle of a close A-10 race in which Xavier, St. Joseph's and Temple also have one loss each. Now they hit the road to play La Salle Thursday.

The Explorers (7-9, 1-4) lost 62-43 at Dayton yesterday. After La Salle, UMass visits Temple Saturday and Rhode Island Jan. 30.

Can the Minutemen win the Atlantic 10 title? Flint thinks so.

"One thing that makes me feel good is that we always play pretty good on the road, because we're always on it," he said. "Surroundings don't intimidate us."

UMass has already won at Xavier, and has played 10 road games in seven states. Even so, Flint liked playing in Springfield, where UMass has won 12 of its last 13 and is 35-21 all-time.

"The enthusiasm was great," he said. "We had a nice crowd, even with a major storm outside. I almost told my wife not to come."

UMass shot 59.3 percent in the second half to overcome a mid-game glitch. After leading 32-22 late in the first half, the Minutemen fell behind for the only time (37-36 with 17:35 left), then buried Duquesne with a 35-17 run.

UMass also blocked a season-high 13 shots against Duquesne, which fell to the Minutemen for the 16th straight time. Senior center Kitwana Rhymer scored 15 points with 12 rebounds and five blocked shots, earning Atlantic 10 player of the week honors announced yesterday.

Rhymer has 34 points, 25 rebounds and six blocked shots in his last two games.

"(Earlier this season), I told Kit he had to get to the gym and work on him game, and that he'd see the fruits of his labor," Flint said. "Now he's starting to see them."

Rhymer also had to adjust to tighter officiating, which had kept him in constant early-season foul trouble. Stricter whistle-blowing was a national trend, but as this season has unfolded, the referees have eased up somewhat.

"It seems they've slacked up, and that's good," Rhymer said. "But I also learned to move my feet better and keep my hands off the man I was guarding."

He's had help from Micah Brand, who scored 16 points with five rebounds and four blocked shots Saturday. The 6-foot-11 sophomore thinks UMass' tough nonconference schedule steeled the Minutemen for A-10 play.

"At the start of this (calendar) year, we sat down and decided what we had to do," Brand said. "We're concentrating more on the things we need to do to win."

"I don't know if the (nonconference) competition toughened us up, but the players did begin to understand why they were losing," Flint said. "They knew we were playing badly, but they also knew they could win the league.

"When you're 2-9 like we were, a coach always worries who's going to pack it in for the year," he said. "But none of our guys did."