Dec. 30, 2004

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DUKES CLOSE OUT 2004 VS. YOUNGSTOWN STATE

Duquesne (2-10), coming off a 74-63 loss at Robert Moris on Wednesday, returns home for the first time since Dec. 11 to face Youngstown State (3-7) on Friday, Dec. 31 at 1:00 p.m. (EST) in a New Year's Eve matinee (1410 KQV-AM & www.redzonemedia.com). The DU vs. YSU men's game will be followed by a game between the Duquesne women and Ohio at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The Youngstown State game is the final nonconference game of the season for the Dukes who open Atlantic 10 play on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at Dayton. DU is 1-3 at home this season with the win coming in their last home game - 76-69 over UMBC on Dec. 11. This is just the third road game of the season for Youngstown State which has losses at Southwest Missouri State (88-52 on Dec. 3) and at Wright State (72-51 on Dec. 18).

DUKES & PENGUINS

Duquesne leads the all-time series 7-1, with the first meeting coming on Dec. 12, 1941 (a 43-22 DU win) ... the two met five more times between 1946-51, with all five games at Youngstown ... YSU ended a six-game Duquesne series win streak with a 76-70 win over the Dukes at the Palumbo Center on Nov. 29, 1997 ... the Penguins caught the Dukes between a Nov. 21-23 trip to the Top of the World Classic (at Fairbanks, Alaska) and a Dec. 2 trip to Gainesville to face Florida ... two year's ago DU defeated YSU 61-56 at Pittsburgh ... this is just the third meeting between the Dukes and Penguins in the last 54 years ... Bryant McAllister is the only active Duke to have seen action vs. YSU (Dec. 18, 2002).

DUQUESNE LATELY

• This is Duquense's first home game since Dec. 11
• DU has led the nation in team free throw percentage for the last month ... the Dukes enter the YSU game shooting 79.8% (142-of-178) from the line
• Senior G Martin Osimani, who is 25-of-26 from the stripe this season, has made his last 20 consecutive free throws (his last miss was Nov. 14 at New Mexico)
• Soph. C Kieron Achara is coming off a career-high 19-point outing at Robert Morris ... Achara hit all six of his shots from the floor and was 7-of-8 from the line at RMU ... he is shooting a team-best 53.4%
• Junior G Bryant McAllister is averaging 22.8 ppg. (54.1% from field) at home and 11.9 ppg. (41.6%) in eight games away from the Palumbo Center
• On the other hand junior G Jack Higgins is averaging 5.0 ppg. at home (where he's shooting 20.6%) and 11.0 ppg. on the road (39.1%)
• True freshman F DeVario Hudson will rejoin the lineup after sitting out the Robert Morris game as a penalty for returning late from Christmas break

MORE ON YOUNGSTOWN STATE

The Penguins are coming off a 70-56 home loss to St. Francis, Pa. on Wednesday ... YSU is 3-4 at home, 0-2 on the road and 0-1 at neutral sites so far this season ... Youngstown State's two road losses have come by an average of 28.5 points (88-52 at Southwest Missouri and 72-51 at Wright State) ... YSU is 3-0 this season when holding their opponent under 70 points ... leading scorer Quin Humphrey (15.9 ppg.) has reached double figures in all 10 games ... the 6-4 sophomore is averaging 34.4 minutes per game ... Humphrey is the owner of the two highest scoring games by a Youngstown State player this season: 26 vs. Loyola and 22 vs. Slippery Rock ... 5-11 junior guard Jon Mends, who leads the team with 50 assists, is averaging a team-high 35.8 minutes per game ... YSU leads the Horizon League with 4.5 blocked shots per game ... four players have eight or more rejections led by 6-6 redshirt freshman John Barber wtih 10 ... YSU is in its sixth season under head coach John Robic.

70 IS THE KEY

Duquesne is 0-7 this season when scoring under 70 points and 2-3 when scoring 70 or more. The Dukes' last win when scoring fewer than 70 points was on Jan. 8, 2003 vs. Temple (61-54). Since then, the Dukes are 0-27 when scoring under 70 and 17-12 when scoring 70 or more.

FOUL ME!

Duquesne has led the nation in team free throw shooting for the last four consecutive weeks. Three Dukes have yet to miss a foul shot this season (Tyler Bluemling 5-5, Jon Pawlak 4-4 and Sean McKeon 3-3), while point guard Martin Osimani, who is at 96.2 percent (25-of-26), has made his last 20 free throw attempts. Guard Bryant McAllister is also over 80 percent at an 80.4 (37-of-46). Six-nine center Kieron Achara, who has attempted the most free throws is at 74.1% (40-of-54):

79.8%   142-178  DUQUESNE79.5%   178-224  Michigan State79.3%    96-121  Army78.6%   173-220  Loyola Marymount77.8%   147-189  Morehead State77.6%   111-143  Rider77.5%   183-236  San Diego77.2%    71-92   Villanova

DUQUESNE QUICK NOTES

• Four of the Dukes' last six opponents have shot 50 percent or better from the 3-point arc: Akron 14-26 (.538), Pitt 10-20 (.500), Boston College 6-10 (.600) and Robert Morris 7-14 (.500)
• For the season, Duquesne is being outshtot 41.4% to 32.0% from 3-point land
• Foes have hit 10 or more 3-pointers in a game four times (all DU losses)
• Kieron Achara is coming off a career-high 19-point outing at Robert Morris ... the Stirling, Scotland native hit all six of his shots from the floor and went 7-of-8 from the line vs. the Colonials ... he also added six rebounds and blocked three shots ... Achara, who is shooting a team-best 53.4 percent from the field, has posted double-doubles four times this season (10-11 at New Mexico, 11-10 vs. Lafayette, 15-11 at George Mason & 16-11 vs. UMBC) ... his current 7.2 rebounds per game average is the best by a Duquesne player since 6-11 Derrick Alston averaged 7.3 rpg. as a senior in 1993-94
• Martin Osimani needs one more 10-assist game for the school career record ... Osimani, who will be playing his 42nd career game vs. Youngstown State, shares the record for career 10 assist games with Clayton Adams who posted four in 109 career games between 1988-91 ... Osimani, who averaged 4.6 ppg. last season, is scoring at a 7.2 ppg. clip this season ... he has scored a career-high 16 points twice (at New Mexico and vs. Lafayette) ... his career high entering the season was 11 ... last year, it took Osimani 20 games to reach his current 86 point total ... Osimani brings a streak of 20 consecutive free throws made into the YSU game ... Osimani, who has not been to the stripe since the Ohio game (Dec. 18), has a way to go to challenge the school record of 42 free throws made in a row set by Dick Ricketts over a seven game span in 1956-57
• Senior guard Tyler Bluemling has scored 43 points in 12 games this season ... his point total in 17 appearances last year was 24
• Jack Higgins came off the bench to hand out a career-high 9 assists (with two turnovers) at Boston College and followed that with three more assists at Robert Morris .. Higgins, whose previous assist high was three set at New Mexico and matched at George Mason earlier this season, was credited with all nine assists in 14 second-half minutes at B.C. ... Higgins, who totaled 16 assists in 23 games last season, has 28 in 12 games this year
• Bryant McAllister, who has scored in double figures in 10 of DU's 12 games, has topped the 20 point mark three times this season (24 vs. Lafayette, 21 vs. Akron & a career-high 30 vs. UMBC)
• Freshman Chauncey Duke has just three turnovers in 186 total minutes on the season
• Duquesne has used seven different starting lineups in 10 games, with 10 different players starting at least once