Duquesne basketball team bus stranded overnight on PA Turnpike

— -- The Duquesne Dukes men's basketball team is still looking to get home after being stranded in traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike overnight because of the blizzard affecting the eastern United States.

The Dukes were traveling home to Pittsburgh from Fairfax, Virginia, after their 86-75 victory against George Mason on Friday. The team, which departed Fairfax at 4:30 p.m., is stuck on a stretch between Bedford and Somerset, Pennsylvania.

Duquesne coach Jim Ferry, who won his 300th game Friday, told SportsCenter on Saturday morning that the bus is about 80 miles from Pittsburgh and that "everybody is safe" and "we're going to be OK."

Ferry told SportsCenter on Saturday morning that the bus came to a stop at about 9:15 p.m. ET.

"It's been a heck of an experience," he said. "We were making good time, kept track of the storm and we're doing well. Then about 9:15 last night, it was a dead stop and we haven't moved since."

The AccuWeather forecast for Somerset calls for heavy snow Saturday morning -- with a total accumulation from Friday evening into Saturday evening totaling 1-2 feet. Blizzard warnings remain in effect Saturday for eastern and coastal portions of the mid-Atlantic, from mountain areas in Virginia to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Long Island, New York.

Ferry said the team had tracked the storm and was prepared but is becoming a little concerned with the "rations of leftover pizza and water" starting to "run out a little bit." 

Guard Micah Mason told SportsCenter that the team was starting to run low on food and drinks at the 16-hour mark, but they'll be OK. The team then tweeted just a short while later that the "fire department has arrived with cases of water for all stranded vehicles, including our bus."

"We're just bunkered down," Ferry said. "We've got a good group of guys and we've all just kind of hung out and had a good time with each other, watched a movie, guys were goofin' and laughing and on their phones. Hours turned into hours and hours and hours."

Pockets of motorists were stuck in the westbound lanes of the turnpike south of Pittsburgh, Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo told The Associated Press on Saturday. Some of those pockets stretch 2 or 3 miles.

Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement the backup was caused when trucks failed to climb hills. First responders are driving ATVs to reach the stranded motorists, Wolf said. The National Guard also has been called out.

"The safety of Pennsylvanians is my top priority, as many areas across Pennsylvania have been hit hard by this storm, which features heavy snow falling at a fast rate," Wolf said. "First responders from multiple state, county and local agencies are working together to address issues and ensure people are safe."

Said Ferry: "We just got to get these guys home and get them stretched out and get them some food. "Right now we're worried about the kids."

The team's Twitter account has been posting periodic updates and says the team is "safe on warm bus" and "hoping others out here [on the PA Turnpike] are as fortunate."

A similar incident happened in 2014 when the Niagara women's basketball team was stranded on the New York State Thruway for nearly 30 hours after a huge storm dumped 4 feet of snow around Buffalo.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.