ST. LOUIS — The longest winning streak in Saint Louis history ended Thursday night with a surprising loss at home to Duquesne. That was hardly the most disappointing part of it as far as forward Dwayne Evans was concerned.

“The streak didn’t really mean much to us,” Evans said. “It’s a tough loss because there’s a championship on the line, not just because it broke the streak.”

Micah Mason had 22 points and Jerry Jones added 19, leading Duquesne to a 71-64 victory.

Saint Louis (25-3, 12-1 Atlantic 10) had won 19 straight since dropping a 70-65 decision on Dec. 1 to unbeaten Wichita State, now ranked No. 2 in the country. With a win, the Billikens could have clinched at least a tie for the Atlantic 10 regular-season title.

But it was the Dukes who looked like title contenders Thursday.

“They did a really nice job and we just didn’t play well enough,” Saint Louis coach Jim Crews said. “We’ve played well and we’ve been fortunate. Tonight, we didn’t play well enough.

“We have no license that we’re going to win. One team’s going to win and one team’s going to lose. Whoever plays the best (wins). That’s how it is, and they played better than us.”

Mason, who entered leading the nation in 3-point shooting percentage (.554), hit four of five from behind the arc for Duquesne (12-15, 4-10), which beat a top-10 opponent on the road for the first time since defeating No. 6 Bradley 73-72 on March 5, 1962.

Duquesne improved to 5-28 on the road against top 10 teams. The Dukes, who were 14-point underdogs, are 25-55 overall against teams ranked in the top 10.

Although it looked like a mismatch on paper, Jones said he and the Dukes could feel this one coming.

“Really, this team was ready to get beat and I just wanted to be a part of it and so did everybody else,” he said.