Jan. 7, 2005

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DUKES HOST No. 24 (AP) GEORGE WASHINGTON

Duquesne (4-10, 1-0), coming off a dramatic 94-93 double-overtime Atlantic 10-opening win at Dayton on Wednesday, returns home to face A-10 West Division favorite George Washington on Saturday, Jan. 8 at 7:05 p.m. (1410 KQV-AM & www.RedZoneMedia.com).

Duquesne rallied from an 11-point deficit with 2:05 left to tie the game and won it on Chauncey Duke's driving layup with :05 left in the second overtime. The win snapped a 16-game DU series losing streak and was also the Dukes first win at Dayton since Feb. 1, 1983.

George Washington, which began league play with a 71-42 home win over La Salle on Wednesday, is ranked No. 24 by AP and No. 25 by USA Today/ESPN. GW was picked to win the A-10 West in a preseason poll of league coaches.

This is Duquesne's second game vs. a ranked opponent this year. On Dec. 4, the Dukes dropped an 87-57 decision at cross-town rival Pitt, which was ranked No. 13 (AP) at the time.

DUKES vs. COLONIALS

George Washington, which leads the overall series 38-23, has won 18 of the last 21 meetings, however Duquesne has won two of the last five ... in games played at Pittsburgh, Duquesne leads 15-14 ... DU's last series win was at the Palumbo Center on Feb. 19, 2003 by a 78-73 score ... last year, George Washington swept the season series: 83-63 at Pittsburgh and 86-63 at Washington, D.C. ... the Dukes averaged 19.0 turnovers in the two losses (16 at GW and 22 in the loss at Pittsburgh).

DUQUESNE LATELY:

• Duquesne will be playing its second consecutive game without junior guard Jack Higgins (8.6 ppg.) who is sidelined with pneumonia ... Higgins had played in every game this season (22.8 min./g.) prior to missing last Wednesday's game at Dayton .
• DU is shooting 78.8% from the foul line ... the mark is the third-best in the nation
• Sophomore C Kieron Achara is coming off a career high 23-point outing at Dayton ... Achara, who added 11 boards at UD for his a team-high fifth double-double, is shooting a team-best 55.4% ... Achara is averaging 18.7 ppg. on 75% shooting (18-of-24) in DU's last three games
• Leading scorer, junior G Bryant McAllister, who entered the Dayton game averaging 11.9 ppg. on the road, scored a game-high 26 at UD ... his 15-footer in the lane with :10.7 left forced a second overtime in the 94-93 win
• Point guards Martin Osimani & Tyler Bluemling combined for 21 points, 6 assists, 0 turnovers and 5 steals at UD.

NICE START

The last time Duquesne opened the Atlantic 10 season with a win was in 1999-00 over La Salle. That is also the last season DU started 2-0 in league play.

70 IS THE KEY

Duquesne is 4-3 this season when scoring 70 or more points and 0-7 when scoring fewer than 70. When holding opponents under 70 points, the Dukes are 3-0. If you want to go five points higher, consider that DU is 4-0 when scoring 75 or more.

DUQUESNE QUICK NOTES

• Kieron Achara has topped his career scoring high in two of DU's last three games ... it started with 19 points at Robert Morris on Dec. 22, followed by 14 points and a career high-tying 5 blocked shots vs. Youngstown State ... he then posted a new career best with 23 points in 36 minutes of DU's 94-93 double-overtime win at Dayton ... the Stirling, Scotland native, is 18-of-24 from the field (75%), 20-of-24 from the line (83.3%) and averaging 18.7 ppg. in the Dukes' last three games ... Achara, who is shooting a team-best 55.4 percent from the field, has posted double-doubles five times this season (10-11 at New Mexico, 11-10 vs. Lafayette, 15-11 at George Mason, 16-11 vs. UMBC and 23-11 at Dayton)
• Martin Osimani needs one more 10-assist game for the school career record ... Osimani, who will be playing his 44th career game vs. GW, 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 22 games to reach his current 101 point total ... Osimani saw a streak of 20 consecutive free throws made snapped in the Youngstown State game ... Osimani, who is 28-of-30 from the line this season, had a streak of 17 free throws made in a row last year ... he made a career high three 3-pointers in six attempts in scoring 11 in the A-10 opener at Dayton
• Senior guard Tyler Bluemling has scored 60 points in 14 games this season ... his point total in 17 appearances last year was 24 ... he has 29 assists and 15 turnovers as the back-up at the point guard spot (1.93-to-1 ratio) ... in his last five games Bluemling has 14 assists and 2 turnovers in an average of 18.2 min./g. ... he had 10 points, 3 assists, 3 steals and 0 turnovers 29 minutes at Dayton ... he scored all 10 of his points in the last 1:07 of regulation and first 1:26 of the first overtime period (at total span of 2:33)
• Jack Higgins' streak of 36 straight games played was snapped at Dayton ... Higgins was diagnosed with pneumonia on Sunday and did not make the trip to UD ... he is not expected to be available vs. GW
• Bryant McAllister, who has scored in double figures in 12 of DU's 14 games, has topped the 20 point mark four times this season (24 vs. Lafayette, 21 vs. Akron, a career-high 30 vs. UMBC and 26 at Dayton)
• Freshman Chauncey Duke has just three turnovers in 245 total minutes on the season ... he has not turned it over since the second half of the UMBC game on Dec. 11 (that's no turnovers in his last five games, 112 total minutes) ... Duke, who pulled down a career-high 7 rebounds vs. Youngstown State added 7 points at Dayton including a driving layup with :05 left in the second overtime that proved to be the game-winner
• Fellow freshman DeVario Hudson had a rough outing at Dayton, going 0-of-10 from the field in 28 minutes... Hudson had scored 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in his two games prior to Dayton (17 at Boston College and 12 vs. Youngstown State) ... he sat out the Robert Morris game on Dec. 22 as a penalty for returning late from Christmas break ... Hudson is shooting a team-best 50.0 percent (9-of-18) from the 3-point arc
• Redshirt freshman Sean McKeon, who missed four late November-early December games with mononucleosis, has scored 24 points (8.0 ppg.) on 11-of-17 shooting (64.7%) in his last three games ... he was 5-of-5 from the field with 10 points in 11 minutes at Boston College, went 3-of-5 with 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks in a career-high 21 minutes vs. Youngstown State and added 8 points in 14 minutes at Dayton ... McKeon did not play at Robert Morris (the game between B.C. and YSU) ... McKeon, who averaged 6.4 minutes in his first five games, is averaging 15.3 min./g. in his last three
• Duquesne used seven different starting lineups during the 13-game nonconference schedule ... 10 different players have started at least once this season.

TWO IN A ROW ON THE ATLANTIC 10 ROAD

With its 94-93 double-overtime victory at Dayton on Wednesday, Duquesne has now won its last two Atlantic 10 regular season road games. The streak began with last year's Feb. 28th 74-68 win at Xavier. The last time DU won two straight A-10 road games was in 1995 (at Temple and at St. Bonaventure). No Duquesne team has ever won three in a row on the road in league play.

DUQUESNE VS. AP RANKED TEAMS

No. 24 (AP) George Washington is the second ranked team the Dukes have faced this season. On Dec.4, Duquesne dropped an 87-57 decision to No. 13 (AP) Pitt at the Petersen Events Center. Duquesne University is 44-100 vs. AP ranked teams since the advent of the poll in 1948-49. Duquesne's last win over a ranked team came on Jan. 25, 1997 when the Dukes defeated No. 16 Xavier 78-70 at Cinicnnati Gardens (a span of 15 games against ranked teams). DU is 2-12 vs. ranked teams at the Palumbo Center (since 1988-89). The Dukes' last win over a ranked team at home was on March 6, 1993 over No. 18 Xavier 88-72 (a span of 11 games vs. ranked opponents), the last road win against ranked team was the Jan. 25, 1997 Xavier game listed above.

CLOSE CALLS

Duquesne is 2-12 against ranked teams at the A.J. Palumbo Center which opened in December of 1988. Of the 12 losses, five have come by eight or fewer points. Here is a list of some of the close calls at home against ranked teams over the last 16 years (ranking listed is according to the Associated Press):

DATE               OPPONENT        W/L     SCORE   MARGINFeb. 22, 1994   #8 Temple          L       61-65     -4Jan. 20, 1996   #1 UMass           L       89-93     -4Feb. 20, 1997   #16 Xavier         L       74-82     -8Feb. 10, 1998   #20 UMass          L       68-74     -6Feb. 26, 2003   #13 Xavier (OT)    L       78-80     -2

SOME HEAVY HITTERS

Four of Duquesne's 10 non-conference losses came to teams with a combined 45-5 record (.900) through Wednesday. Of the four, three began the week nationally ranked:

                               CURRENT CURRENTDATE    OPPONENT               RECORD  RANK*   W/L  SCORE   MARGINNov. 14 at New Mexico            13-2     NR   L    74-82     -8Nov. 24 West Virginia            10-1     #21  L    69-72     -3Dec. 4  at #13 (AP) Pittsburgh   10-2     #16  L    57-87     -30Dec. 22 at Boston College        12-0     #25  L    70-88     -18
* - rank listed is from the Associated Press