March 1, 2003

Box Score

Philadelphia, PA -

Duquesne rallied from a 17-point first half deficit to take a one-point lead with just over two minutes to go but could not hold on in a 71-66 loss at La Salle.

The Dukes, who whittled the La Salle lead from 14 to 2 over a 12 minute span of the second half, took their first lead of the half at 66-65 on a Brad Midgley jumper with 2:15 left. The Dukes would not score again as the Explorers hit six consecutive free throws in the final 1:15 to seal the win.

Duquesne had the ball down three with 18 seconds left, but could not get off a shot as a Bryant McAllister pass intended for Jimmy Tricco went out of bounds. La Salle's Mike Cleaves then hit the Explorers' 27th and 28th free throws of the game for the final margin.

Duquesne, who jumped out to a 10-0 lead, saw that advantage erased by a 40-19 La Salle run to close out the half. The Explorers held the Dukes scoreless for a 5:26 span during the run. In the second half, it was Duquesne's turn to put the clamps on as the Dukes limited La Salle to just four field goals in 28 attempts (14.3%).

For the game, La Salle went 28-36 from the free throw line, including a 22-27 effort in the second half. David Bell and Gary Neal led La Salle with 19 points each. Elijah Palmer led Duquesne with 15 points and eight rebounds. Simplice Njoya added 14 and McAllister finished with 13 for the Dukes.

Duquesne, who outshot La Salle 50 percent to 30.5 percent on the afternoon was its own worst enemy with 20 turnovers that led to 25 La Salle points.

As part of a national initiative, both La Salle's Billy Hahn and Duquesne's Danny Nee wore bow ties in honor of coaching legend Jim Phelan who will retire from Mount St. Mary's at the end of this season. Going into tonight's regular season finale against Central Connecticut State, the Philadelphia native's record is 827-518, third most all-time behind Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp.

NOTES

• Two Dukes (Ron Dokes & Kevin Forney) fouled out, while three others finished the game with four fouls.
• DU was outscored from the foul line 28-12.
• Duquesne hit just 4-of-17 3-point attempts,
• La Salle finished the game with 19 offensive rebounds.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Duquesne head coach Danny Nee

"We had many opportunities to finish this game out. We had two good looks late in the game. La Salle, to their credit, made their free throws and got some stops.

"La Salle opened the door for us with their poor shooting. To win you have to execute, you have to be fundamentally sound. Their 19 offensive rebounds meant we weren't boxing out. Add that to 20 turnovers and that's a significant number of additional opportunities.

"I thought we just didn't do a good job of protecting the ball, and they converted on those turnovers."

MEDIA REPORTS

Post-Gazette | Tribune-Review | Philadelphia Inquirer | AP

NEXT

Duquesne completes the 2002-03 regular season at home vs. Rhode Island (15-10, 7-7) on Saturday, Mar. 8 (4:00 p.m.). The URI matchup is the final home game for seniors Demetrius Charles, Chris Clark, Kevin Forney and Brad Midgley. In addition, Chris' younger brother Jon is a freshman with the Rams.