January 17, 2009 | AP Press

PITTSBURGH, PA – Rob Lowery scored 16 points and directed a 12-point run that started late in the first half and carried into the second, helping Dayton end Duquesne’s seven-game winning streak with a 78-69 victory Saturday night.

Bill Clark scored 19, Aaron Jackson 18 and Damian Saunders 13, but Duquesne (12-5, 3-1 in Atlantic 10) was denied its first eight-game winning streak since the 1971-72 season.

The Flyers (16-2, 2-1) trailed 38-35 before going on the run, which made it 47-38 after Luke Fabrizius’ 3-pointer with 16:56 remaining. Dayton, which shot 58 percent (29-of-50), never led by fewer than three points after that while relying on a defense that limited Duquesne to 42.6 percent shooting (26-of-61).

Charles Wright scored 15, Marcus Johnson and Fabrizius had 11 each and Chris Johnson scored 10 for the Flyers, who were upset by Duquesne the last two seasons.

With Duquesne applying full-court pressure to try to come back, Dayton broke the press to dunk for three consecutive baskets in a 90-second stretch — by Chris Johnson, Wright and Little — to make it 74-63 with 2:02 to play. The Flyers’ seven dunks gave them 61 for the season, matching a school record with 13 games remaining.

January 14, 2009 | AP Press

PITTSBURGH, PA – Freshman Melquan Bolding scored a career-high 26 points, Bill Clark and Aaron Jackson had 14 points, and Duquesne rallied to beat George Washington 88-83 on Wednesday night for its seventh straight victory.

Eric Evans scored 13 points and Damian Saunders added 11 for Duquesne (12-4), which is 3-0 in the Atlantic 10 Conference for the first time in the school’s history.

Duquesne, which trailed by 13 points in the first half, went ahead 80-77 on a 3-pointer by Saunders with 2:49 remaining. The Dukes had 13 3-pointers, including four from Bolding.

Rob Diggs had 25 points for George Washington (6-8, 0-2), which lost its sixth straight.

Reserve Noel Wilmore added 14 points for the Colonials, who shot 64 percent from the field and made eight of 10 3-pointers.

January 10, 2009 | AP Press

OLEAN, N.Y. — Bill Clark scored 24 points, leading Duquesne to a 98-80 win over St. Bonaventure on Saturday.

Aaron Jackson scored 20 points, while Melquan Bolding scored 16. Eric Evans chipped in 14 points for the Dukes (11-4, 2-0 Atlantic 10), while Jason Duty added 13.

Andrew Nicholson scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Bonnies (10-5, 1-1). Jonathan Hall added 14 and had six assists. Tyler Benson scored 10 points.

Duquesne never trailed, taking a 44-32 halftime lead after a 10-0 run.

Duquesne shot 50 percent from the field and was 13-of-27 on 3 pointers.

St. Bonaventure shot 45.9 percent from the field and was 6-of-16 from beyond the arc.

January 7, 2009 | AP Press

PITTSBURGH, PA – Aaron Jackson scored five of his 30 points in the last 1:16 and Duquesne rallied after repeatedly giving away leads to defeat Charlotte 76-71 in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams Wednesday night.

Bill Clark had 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Dukes (10-4), who trailed 69-67 after Javarris Barnett dunked off a missed shot with 5:19 to play. The 49ers (5-8) scored only two more points after that, Charlie Coley’s free throws with 48 seconds remaining, in losing for the second time in six games.

Coley scored 17 points and Ian Andersen and Lamont Mack had 15 each.

Jackson scored to give Duquesne a 71-69 lead with 1:16 remaining and then made three of four free throws during the final 25 seconds, giving him 1,022 career points in his 100th game.

Duquesne led by as many as seven points in the first half, then couldn’t hold separate leads of six and five points in the second half before ending a four-game losing streak to Charlotte that dated to 1993.

December 31, 2008 | AP Press

PITTSBURGH, PA – Bill Clark scored 21 points and led a 9-0 run that gave Duquesne the lead for good midway through the second half of a 76-65 victory over Bowling Green on Wednesday.

Clark hit a driving layup and a 3-pointer — he was 4-of-5 beyond the arc — on successive possessions as Duquesne (9-4) turned a 41-35 deficit into a 44-41 lead. Damian Saunders finished the run with a layup and had 16 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

Aaron Jackson added 15 points and nine assists and had three baskets during a later 11-0 run that made it 64-49 with 4:30 remaining. Duquesne won its fourth in a row, outrebounding the Falcons 37-27.

Darryl Clements scored 20 points, Joe Jakubowski had 12 and Otis Polk had 10 for Bowling Green (6-6), which had won three of its previous four.

The Dukes have won nine games by the end of December for the second successive season after not previously doing so since the 1968-69 season.

December 28, 2008 | AP Press

MOON TOWNSHIP, PA. — Aaron Jackson scored 18 points and Melquan Bolding added 16 to lead Duquesne to an 88-62 victory over Robert Morris on Sunday.

Damian Saunders scored 14 points, and Bill Clark and Jason Duty each added 11 for Duquesne (8-4), which built a 45-24 lead by the break.

Jeremy Chappell led Robert Morris (6-6) with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Mezie Nwigwe made all 10 of his free throws and finished with 14 points.

The loss snapped the Colonials’ two-game winning streak.

December 22, 2008 | AP Press

PITTSBURGH, PA — Aaron Jackson scored 20 points, Eric Evans had a career-high 19 and Duquesne opened an 18-point lead midway through the first half in defeating winless North Carolina Central 97-79 on Monday night.

Damian Saunders added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Dukes (7-4), who raced to a 30-12 lead before taking a 54-32 advantage at halftime. Jason Duty and Bill Clark added 12 points each.

Evans, a freshman point guard, played only 23 minutes but made 10 of 12 free throws and had five steals. The Dukes won their second in a row after dropping four of five.

Jamar Briscoe, also a freshman guard, made 15 of 18 from the foul line while scoring a game-high 34 points for North Carolina Central. The Eagles have played only two home games while going 0-14.

From the Atlantic 10 Website:

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Tommie Liddell – Saint Louis
Senior, Guard, 6-4, 195 lbs.
East St. Louis, Ill./Hargrave Military Acad. (Va.)
Liddell amassed two double-doubles in leading Saint Louis to a pair of victories…scored 12 points and added 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals in the Billikens’ 55-38 win over South Carolina-Upstate on Dec. 17…scored 15 points, grabbed 11 boards and added two steals on Dec. 19 a Saint Louis edged Liberty, 73-70…blocked the potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer to preserve the win over Liberty…leads all A-10 guards with an average of 7.4 rpg…became the first SLU player to register a double-double in consecutive games since Ian Vouyoukas (Dec. 12 / Dec. 16, 2006).

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Eric Evans – Duquesne
Freshman, Guard, 5-11, 195 lbs.
Detroit, Mich./Northwestern HS
Evans earns his second A-10 Rookie of the Week award after averaging 14.5 points and shooting 73.3 percent (11-for-15) over two games…knocked down 8-of-11 shots from the field en route to scoring a season-high 18 points in Duquesne’s 86-60 loss to Old Dominion on Dec. 17…scored all 11 of his points in the second half on Dec. 20 as the Dukes turned aside Rice, 80-64…added three rebounds and two assists and knocked down three-of-six attempts from three-point range on the week.

December 20, 2008 | AP Press

PITTSBURGH, PA – Aaron Jackson scored 16 points and freshman Melquan Bolding had a career-high 14 as Duquesne pulled away in the second half to beat Rice, 80-64 on Saturday.

Damian Saunders added 13 points, freshman Eric Evans had 11 and Jason Duty 10 for the Dukes (6-4), who had lost their previous two and four of five while playing a rugged schedule that includes Pittsburgh, Duke and West Virginia.

The Dukes shot 53.2 percent (25-of-47) and their pressure defense bothered the Owls (4-6), who trailed by six at the half but never got going in the second half. Rice, led by Lucas Kuipers’ 16 points, shot 42.9 percent (21-of-49).

Duquesne was coming off a 26-point home court loss to Old Dominion.

Suleiman Braimoh scored 12 and Cory Pflieger had 11 for Rice, which had won two in a row. The Owls play No. 4 Oklahoma at home Monday night.

December 17, 2008 | AP Press

PITTSBURGH, PA – Gerald Lee led Old Dominion’s balanced offense with 15 points and the Monarchs turned a pivotal 17-3 run early in the second half into an 86-60 rout of Duquesne on Wednesday night.

Darius James scored 14, Keyon Carter and Ben Finney had 12 each and Kent Bazemore had 10 for the Monarchs (6-3), who shot 70.8 percent (17-of-24) while outscoring the Dukes 44-24 in the second half. Old Dominion shot 56.9 percent overall.

The Monarchs, improving to 3-0 against Atlantic 10 Conference teams, trailed 13-4 in the opening three minutes before solving Duquesne’s pressure and going on a 9-0 run to tie it. An 8-0 run later in the half made it 39-31, and Duquesne (5-4) never got any closer than two points early in the second half.

Old Dominion led 46-44 before holding Duquesne to Bill Clark’s 3-pointer over a nearly seven-minute stretch in which it opened a 63-47 lead.

Freshman point guard Eric Evans was Duquesne’s only double figure scorer with 18 points. The Dukes lost their fourth in five games, with the previous three losses coming against Duke, Pittsburgh and West Virginia.