March 1, 2009 by Josh Taylor | A10CollegeHoops

PITTSBURGH, PA. — If there was ever any doubt about Aaron Jackson’s legitimacy as an elite college basketball player, perhaps one of his best efforts to remove it came over the weekend against Rhode Island. Jackson led all scorers with 24 points and added seven rebounds, five assists and four steals in a heroic effort that fell just short in the final seconds of a 73-71 loss.

On a Sunday afternoon where Duquesne honored their starting point guard, along with teammate Phillip Fayne for Senior Day at the A.J. Palumbo Center, Jackson helped get the Dukes started early with a back-door bounce pass to freshman Melquan Bolding for a slam dunk just 36 seconds into the game to put them on the board. From that point on, it was understood that it was going to be one of those days where the crowd was in for a good show.

After two early three-pointers by Jimmy Baron helped give Rhode Island a 10-4 lead, Jackson helped lead a string of three consecutive baskets with another baseline feed to Bolding for a reverse layup, and then a layup of his own to bring Duquesne within two. Bill Clark’s floater inside the paint with 16:16 remaining tied the game at 10.

Afterward came a battle between the two teams that saw four lead changes and five ties through the duration of the half. Keith Cothran’s dunk following a rebound off a Delroy James miss put Rhode Island ahead, 32-27, with 4:04 to go. Cothran scored 13 of his 20 points in the first half, shooting 6-of-9 from the floor.

But then Duquesne answered with a 7-0 run, capped off by a Damian Saunders three-pointer from the top of the circle to give them a 34-32 lead with 3:02 remaining. The 6-foot-7 sophomore forward was faced with the difficult task of defending 7-foot center Will Martell, but he held him to only four points, recording four blocked shots and three steals to go with his 12 points and six rebounds. Also, the Dukes held the scoring edge in the paint, 38-34, as Saunders and Clark combined for 33 points.

“Damian and Billy are playing as well as we could ask them to,” Everhart said of his two sophomore starting forwards, who have been forced to play against bigger opponents due to the Dukes’ lack of size in the front court. “Of course there are games when Damian can play better and there are days when I just want to choke Billy, but I have no problem with the effort they have given.”

After Rhode Island guard Marquis Jones’ layup helped tie the game for the Rams on their ensuing possession, Duquesne rattled off another string of three unanswered baskets to close out the half. The Dukes’ freshman led the way, as two B.J. Monteiro free throws and a pair of Bolding jumpers — the latter of which came from the right baseline with two seconds left — closed out the half with the home team ahead, 40-34.

In the second half, Duquesne worked quickly to build on their lead as Bolding hit a three pointer at about two minutes in to put the Dukes ahead, 45-38. He shot 6-for-8 from the floor, including 2-for-3 from behind the arc for 16 points, along with six rebounds.

Rhode Island quickly responded with a layup by Jones and another three-pointer from Baron – he made four of his eight attempts behind the arc – to pull the Rams within two. But Bolding struck again with his second three pointer, Saunders added another from the left corner, and Duquesne was back up by six at 15:54.

Over the next two and a half minutes, Rhode Island went on a 15-3 run, including five points by Baron, six by Kahiem Seawright, and a steal by Jones for a layup that had the Rams ahead, 60-54 with 11:33 to go. Baron, a former prep school teammate of Jackson’s, finished with 14 points, and Seawright scored 24, with 17 coming in the second half.

Duquesne began to chip away at the lead, with Jackson leading the charge. He scored 16 of the Dukes’ final 20 points, and his jumper with 2:01 remaining tied the game at 66. Two free throws by Seawright moments later put Rhode Island ahead by two.

But it was James — the younger brother of former Duquesne forward and season blocked shot record holder Shawn James — that delivered what Everhart called, “the biggest shot of the game.” His driving, left-handed hook shot off the glass with 1:11 remaining put the Rams up, 70-66, seemingly putting the game out of reach.

However, Jackson and his mates refused to concede, as he forced a steal off Baron and scored on a layup with 36 seconds to go to pull back within two. Seawright responded with a power move inside for a slam and a four-point Rams’ lead that became five when Cothran converted one of two free throw attempts.

Jackson then let the ensuing inbound pass bounce to half court before picking it up, pulling up at the top of the key and draining a three-pointer to cut the deficit to two with only six seconds to go. Seawright then missed the first of a one-and-one bonus free throw attempt, rebounded by Saunders and giving Duquesne a chance to tie the game or win it with five seconds left.

“I was thinking, this is our chance to win the game,” Jackson said.

Jones, with two Rams’ team fouls to give, made a heady veteran move and fouled immediately to force Duquesne to inbound from the far end of the court with three seconds left. Then, on the ensuing inbound play, he fouled again to force another inbound with 1.5 seconds to go.

Jackson got the inbound pass and got in position to shoot the potential game-winner from the top of the circle, but his three-point attempt fell short, and so did Duquesne’s comeback hopes. 

“We tried to run a back-door screen play for Damian or [Jason] Duty,” Everhart explained, “but they guarded it pretty well and Aaron cut in between them. If we would’ve had another timeout, we probably would’ve used it and tried to do something else.”

Trailing Temple by one game in the A-10 standings, Duquesne has a meeting Wednesday against St. Louis in their home finale and a March 7 meeting with Dayton, needing to likely win both games in order to finish in fourth place and secure a first-round bye in the conference tournament.

“We tried to get the win today, but we didn’t, so we have to look towards the next game,” Jackson said. “We want to win these last two games and get that bye, so we’re going to get to practicing to get there.”

February 25, 2009 | AP Press

AMHERST, Mass. – Bill Clark’s 22 points led five Duquesne players in double figures as the Dukes defeated Massachusetts 94-77 Wednesday night.

Duquesne (17-9, 8-5 Atlantic 10 Conference) finished the first half on a 15-4 run to take a 46-35 lead at the break. Massachusetts made a late surge and cut its deficit to 10 on a Gary Correia’s 3-pointer with just under six minutes left, but never got closer.

Damian Saunders added 18 points and seven rebounds for Duquesne, while Aaron Jackson had 17 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Eric Evans scored 14 points and Jason Duty had 10, rounding out double-digit scorers.

Anthony Gurley led Massachusetts (10-16, 5-8 A-10) with 18 points off the bench, Ricky Harris added 14 points and Matt Glass had 12.

The 94 points were the most Massachusetts surrendered this season. The Minutemen lost despite hitting 16 3-pointers, breaking their record for threes in a game.

February 22, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Aaron Jackson scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half to lead Duquesne to a 79-68 win over La Salle Sunday.

Damian Saunders added 22 points, matching his career high, for the Dukes (16-9, 7-5 Atlantic 10), who had lost three of their last four.

Rodney Green had 14 points to lead four players in double figures for the Explorers (14-12, 5-7), who dropped their second straight.

The victory guarantees Duquesne its second straight winning season, marking the first time since the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons they will finish above .500 in two straight campaigns.

Jackson got Duquesne off to a strong start, making seven of his first nine shots to finish with 17 points in the first half and help the Dukes to a 44-41 lead at the break. Vernon Goodridge’s layup 13 seconds into the second half brought La Salle within 44-43. But the Dukes scored the next six points and the Explorers never got closer than three the rest of the way.

Eric Evans also reached double figures for Duquesne with 11 points, while Saunders set a career high with 14 rebounds. Kimmani Barrett and Paul Johnson had 12 points apiece for La Salle, and Goodridge finished with 11.

Jason Duty tries to pass against Temple's zone (Photo courtesy: Stacy Gault)

February 15, 2009 by Josh Taylor | A10CollegeHoops  

When considering Duquesne’s last three games, including their upset victory over then ninth-ranked Xavier on February 7, the constant trend is the Dukes have had a hard time maintaining leads and finishing games.

That was the recurring sentiment among the team after falling to Temple, 78-73, in a Sunday matinee at the A.J. Palumbo Center in which they led by as much as eight points midway through the first half. They held the Owls’ talented senior guard, Dionte Christmas, to 15 points on 4-of-15 shooting, but could not overcome a late second-half collapse, combined with the clutch shooting of Ryan Brooks and freshman Juan Fernandez.

“I thought our kids really did a great job on Christmas today,” Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart said at the postgame press conference, “and I thought our game plan worked out really, really well. It was unfortunate because they got a lot of production out of the other two [guard] spots.”

Temple got out to an early 9-5 lead in the first half, but then Duquesne scored seven consecutive points on a three-point play by Bill Clark, a steal and breakaway slam by Damian Saunders, and a pair of free throws by Aaron Jackson to make it 12-9. 

The Dukes maintained the lead through the end of the half, but missed a handful of opportunities to extend it, and an 18-7 run by the Owls in the last seven minutes of the half put Duquesne up by only one at the break, despite 11 points from Saunders and 10 from Jackson.

“When we have a lead, we need to take decent shots because we could have been up by 10 or 12 at halftime,” said Jackson, who finished with a game-high 21 points. “But we took poor shots and we didn’t shoot the ball as well.”

The second half was no more promising, as Christmas knocked down a three-pointer and a jump shot to put Temple up by four within the first two minutes. But Duquesne responded with a 9-0 run, capped off on a no-look pass from B.J. Monteiro to a cutting Saunders for a layup with 15:40 remaining.

After four ties and seven lead-changes in the second half, Temple took a 62-58 lead on a Brooks three-pointer. He shot 3-for-4 from behind the arc and finished with 11 points. Clark, the Dukes’ top outside shooter, second in the conference in three-point percentage, answered with a three of his own, and Duquesne was back within one.

The next three possessions for the Dukes would embody the struggles they have faced in their last three contests, including going nearly the final eight minutes in the win over Xavier without a field goal. Freshman point guard Eric Evans missed two open three-point attempts, and then Jackson missed on a driving layup opportunity. Two layups by 6′9″ sophomore Lavoy Allen sandwiched around a made free throw, plus two free throws by Christmas gave Temple the seven-point surge they needed to grab a firm hold on the lead and keep it the rest of the way.

“We had three straight possessions where Evans missed two wide open three’s — and I mean they were wide open,” Everhart said, “and then Jackson comes down the lane, and that same layup that he made against [George Washington] and against Charlotte… he missed it.

“Those three possessions really hurt us because they had the dribble-drive with Allen, and Christmas got fouled on the dribble-drive and made two free throws.”

A layup by Jackson, followed by two free throws and another pair from Clark cut the deficit to four, but a nice spin and layup on a post-up move by Fernandez on Jason Duty broke the Dukes’ back with 41 seconds left. An Argentina native having enrolled in only December, Fernandez shot 7-of-9, including 2-for-4 from three-point range for 19 points, and his performance was not lost on the host team.

“I was impressed watching him a couple of weeks ago,” Jackson said of Fernandez. “I saw him on TV and I thought he was going to be a really good point guard in this league. He runs the team really well, he’s a phenomenal passer, and he’s really poised to be a freshman.”

Sophomore forwards Bill Clark and Damian Saunders have had to assume veteran roles due to Duquesne's young roster (Photo courtesy: Stacy Gault)

Speaking of youth, Everhart refused to blame the loss on his roster’s lack of experience. Having eight scholarship freshman and only one scholarship upperclassman, Duquesne has one of the youngest rosters in the country based on average age.

“I wish we had better depth, especially up front,” Everhart said, “but we have what we have. I think Clark and Saunders are giving us everything they’ve got, but in our backcourt, we’ve got to have one of our guards step up off the bench and be more productive for us.”

“It’s always tough when you get a loss, or you’re going on a two-game losing streak, but I think it’s just that we’ve got to come together, have a meeting or something, and get everybody on the same page,” Saunders said. “We have guys going off, being wild, and trying to play their game, but it’s really a team effort.”

The Dukes have five games remaining on their schedule, including a week off before visiting LaSalle and Massachusetts in a three-day span. One win in those last five games will secure a winning season for the Dukes, the second in Everhart’s three years as head coach and the program’s first consecutive winning run since the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons.

“I know it’s getting old, but we’ve got to learn from our mistakes,” Jackson said. “We need to just dig in and say, ‘enough is enough.’ We’ve got to start pulling out these wins.”

February 11, 2009 by Patrick Gill | A10CollegeHoops

The Richmond Spiders and Duquesne Dukes came into Wednesday nights’ Atlantic 10 conference match-up as teams headed in opposite directions. The Dukes came in oozing confidence, having won 10 of their last 13 and fresh off a victory over perennial conference powerhouse, Xavier. The Spiders had lost four in a row, six of eight, and were still nursing wounds from a triple overtime defeat at the hands of St. Louis on Sunday.

The combination seemed to provide a perfect storm for the Dukes at the outset of the game. Duquesne jumped on Richmond early, reeling off the games’ first 12 points with relative ease. They dominated all facets of the game, converting turnovers into dunks, half court possession into open three point attempts, and missed shots into put backs. On the other hand, the Spiders early performance might have caused Dr. James Naismith to turn a 360 in his grave. They showed minimal effort on defense, lacked movement on the offensive end, and threw the ball around with reckless abandon. Richmond coach Chris Mooney said of the start, “I think Everybody’s worse nightmare was having a slow start after Sunday’s game and that certainly came true.”

The early onslaught certainly did not hint towards the 71-67 victory the Spiders would gut out in front of a delighted Robins Center crowd. Mooney was able to ride out the eye of the storm by inserting Cedric Francis-Martel, Kevin Hovde, and Justin Harper off the bench. However, the strong play of Duquesne’s Bill Hall tossed Richmond back into the squall, and they still trailed by 15 with 3:29 remaining in the first stanza. Harper, who did not start because of an ankle injury, responded by sparking a 7-0 run that enabled the Spiders to envision a happy destination heading into halftime. “That was huge to get the lead down to eight, psychologically it seems much more manageable,” stated Mooney.

At the start of the second half the home team turned to David Gonzalvez to lead them into safer waters. Richmond’s leading scorer hit a trio of shots from well beyond the arc to erase a lead the Dukes had earned over the games first twenty minutes. Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart said of the comeback, “A lot of that had to with Richmond just coming back and playing well. I thought we did a real good job in every aspect tonight.” After Francis-Martel knotted the game at 40 with 14:53 remaining, the lead switched hands several times. With Duquesne up 54-51 and 9:39 remaining, Ryan Butler (11 points) went on a personal 6-0 run, by hitting back to back 3s, to give the Spiders a lead they would never relinquish.

However, the Spiders had not reached land yet. When the Dukes cut the lead to 61-60 with 2:53 remaining, point guard Kevin Anderson took the wheel and brought the Spiders home. On three straight possessions the Spiders point guard, Kevin Anderson, was able to get into the lane and hit tough pull ups. Anderson’s final bucket, a high arching fade away, put the Spiders up 67-65 with 1:08 remaining. “I just thought he controlled the game late. We had no answer for him,” stated Everhart.

After the teams exchanged turnovers, Francis-Martel blocked a Melquan Bolding three point attempt, allowing the Spiders to regain possession. Anderson was subsequently fouled, and sank two foul shots with 19 seconds remaining to give Richmond a four point advantage. After a Duquense put back cut the Spiders lead back to two with 2.6 seconds remaining, David Gonzalvez broke long on the inbounds play and laid it in at the buzzer to provide the final score.

Anderson finished with 14 points and his backcourt mate Gonzalvez added a game-high 16. Harper (13 points), Butler (11 points) and Jarhon Giddings (11 points) also notched double figures. The Dukes were paced by Damian Saunders and Aaron Jackson who each scored 14 points.

Following losses in several close games in which they played well, the win is something Anderson thinks the Spiders can build on. “A lot of games we have lost when it is close. We took a step forward tonight because we closed the game out.”

February 4, 2009 | AP Press

ST. LOUIS, MO — Kevin Lisch scored 21 points to lead Saint Louis over Duquesne 78-74 in overtime Wednesday night.

Tommie Liddell III added 13 points and Willie Reed scored 12 for the Billikens (13-9, 4-4 Atlantic 10), who hit only 7-of-15 free throws in the second half but made 7-of-8 in the extra period.

Duquesne’s Aaron Jackson scored 29 points, including a long jumper at the first buzzer that tied the game at 63. Officials looked at a replay and ruled Jackson was just inside the 3-point arc.

Damien Saunders added 14 points and Bill Clark contributed 13 for the Dukes (14-7, 5-3) before fouling out.

Saint Louis led 62-54 with 2:35 remaining in regulation but couldn’t hold the lead.

January 25, 2009 | AP Press

New York, NY – Bill Clark scored 22 points, 16 of them in the opening half, and Duquesne routed Fordham 89-68 on Sunday to extend the Rams’ losing streak to eight straight.

Melquan Bolding followed with 19 points for the Dukes (12-6, 3-2 Atlantic 10), who had five players in double-figures scoring. Jason Duty had 18 points, Eric Evans had 13 and Aaron Jackson 10.

Mike Moore paced Fordham with 18 points. Jio Fontan and Chris Bethel each had 16 points.

A layup by Bethal gave Fordham (2-15, 0-5) a 9-6 lead at 14:31 of the opening half. The Dukes then went on 17-1 run to turn the game into a route. Clark led the way with a pair of 3-pointers.

January 21, 2009 | AP Press

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Idris Hilliard tapped in a missed shot at the buzzer to give Saint Joseph’s a 99-98 overtime win over Duquesne on Wednesday.

Ahmad Nivins had a career-high 34 points and grabbed 16 rebounds and Hilliard added 20 points for Saint Joseph’s (10-7, 4-0 Atlantic 10), which won its fifth in a row.

Jason Duty had a career-high 20 points and Damian Saunders also had 20 for the Dukes (12-6, 3-2), who had six players in double figures.

Nivins hit two free throws with 30 seconds left in OT to give the Hawks a 97-96 lead. But Duty hit a 3-point shot with 8 seconds to go for a 98-97 Duquesne advantage before Hilliard tipped in the game winner.

Duquesne rallied with a 24-4 run to move ahead 76-71 with 4:23 to play and the Dukes led 88-82 with 45 seconds to go in regulation. But Nivins scored 6 straight points and his two foul shots with 14.4 remaining sent the game into overtime.

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 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.