March 2, 2005

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DUQUESNE COMPLETES REGULAR SEASON WITH TWO-GAME ROAD TRIP

Duquesne (7-20, 4-10) completes the regular season portion of the 2004-05 schedule with a two-game road trip beginning with a visit to the Bronx, N.Y. to face Fordham (12-13, 8-6) on Wednesday, Mar. 2 at 7:30 p.m. (EST). (1410 KQV-AM & www.redzonemedia.com). Fordham, the surprise team of the Atlantic 10, is 9-3 at home including a 6-1 mark in A-10 home games. The Rams, which went 6-22 last season, own home wins over Richmond (79-56), Xavier (76-74) and Temple (54-47) among others. They also took A-10 East leader Saint Joseph's down to the wire before falling 53-50. Duquesne will stay on the road following the Fordham game to conclude the regular season at Massachusetts on Saturday, March 5 at 2:00 p.m.

DUKES AND RAMS

Duquesne leads the series 12-6, including a 4-3 edge in games played at Fordham ... in Atlantic 10 regular-season play DU leads 5-4 ... Duquesne snapped a three-game Fordham series win streak with a 95-66 victory at the Palumbo Center in 2002 and followed that with a 74-65 win at Fordham in 2003 and a 93-56 victory at Pittsburgh last year ... the 37-point margin of victory last season was Duquesne's largest since 1983 (an 83-45 win over Ohio Dominican) ... the margin was also DU's largest ever in an Atlantic 10 game eclipsing a 109-74 win (+35) over St. Bonaventure on Feb. 23, 1989 ... the home team has won seven of the nine A-10 meetings between the two ... the DU/FU series dates back to Dec. 22, 1949.

DUQUESNE LATELY

• Junior guard Bryant McAllister, who has scored 48 points in Duquesne's last two games, begins DU's regular season-ending road trip needing 12 points to become the 30th 1,000-point scorer in Dukes history ... oddly enough, Duquesne's last 1,000-point scorer, Kevin Forney, topped the 1,000-point mark in DU's last trip to the Bronx in 2003 ... McAllister, who scored 27 in Sunday's loss to Richmond, was named A-10 co-Player of the Week after helping DU snap a five-game losing streak with 21 points in a 77-72 win over La Salle on Feb. 23 ... McAllister is the first two-time Duquesne Player of the Week since Wayne Smith in 1999-00 ... he is one of just six A-10 players to win the award multiple times this season
• Point guard Martin Osimani, who has 49 assists & 15 turnovers in his last nine games, begins the week with a 5.48 career assist per game average ... he needs to average 7.0 apg. (or accumulate 21 assists) in Duquesne's three guaranteed remaining games to top Norm Nixon's career apg. school record of 5.55 set from 1974-77.

NEW FACES

It has only been two years, but the changes in both Duquesne's and Fordham's rosters will be evident on Wednesday. Just three players on each team's 2004-05 roster - Duquesne's Bryant McAllister and Fordham's Mushon Ya'akosi & Jermaine Anderson saw action the last time the two teams met at Fordham on Feb. 15, 2003

RETURN TO SENDER

The 2004-05 Dukes currently rank fifth on Duquesne's all-time list for team blocked shots in a season. Kieron Achara, who already ranks second on DU's all-time shot block list, leads the team with 43 rejections. Freshman DeVario Hudson, who has turned back nine shots in his last four games, ranks second on the team with 23 rejections:

        BLKS    G       YEAR    AVG1.      166     28 g.   1979-80 5.932.      150     30 g.   1993-94 5.003.      137     28 g.   1991-92 4.894.      128     28 g.   1992-93 4.575.      111     27 g.   2004-05 4.11

FOUL ME!

Duquesne began the week tied for seventh nationally in free throw shooting percentage. The Dukes, who led the nation for four consecutive weeks in December, are currently at their lowest rank of the season. Duquesne has shot under 70 percent in a game nine times with seven coming in A-10 play. Point guard Martin Osimani - who had a streak of 20 FT's made in a row snapped vs. Youngstown State on New Year's Eve - leads the way at 89.5% (34-of-38). Guard Bryant McAllister is also over 80 percent at an A-10 best 81.6% (102-of-125). McAllister has missed consecutive free throw attempts in a game just once this season.

DUQUESNE QUICK NOTES

• Bryant McAllister, who has scored in double figures in 23 of DU's 27 games, began a late-season surge with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting vs. La Salle followed by 27 vs. Richmond on Sunday ... McAllister, who scored 18 in the second half to key DU's comeback win over La Salle, also added a career-high 9 assists and a career high-tying 8 rebounds in flirting with a triple-double ... the 6-3 junior has topped the 20 point mark eight times this season (24 vs. Lafayette, 21 vs. Akron, a career-high 30 vs. UMBC, 26 at Dayton , 27 at Xavier, 20 vs. Xavier, 21 vs. La Salle & 27 vs. Richmond) ... he is one of five A-10 players to score 30 or more in a game this year ... (Steven Smith & Jermaine Thomas of La Salle, Kevin Steenberge of Richmond and Stanley Burrell of Xavier are the others) ... his 16.2 ppg. scoring average ranks fourth in the league and his 1.81 steals per game (49 total) rank fifth in the A-10 ... the 6-3 junior, who has missed consecutive free throws in a game just once this season, leads the league in free throw shooting percentage at 81.6% (102-of-125) ... McAllister, a two-time A-10 co-Player of the Week, is one of just six league players to win the award multiple times this year
• Kieron Achara, who opened conference play with a career-high 23 points and a career high-tying 11 rebounds in the double-overtime win at Dayton, added his second A-10 double-double at Richmond (11-10) on Feb. 1 ... he eclipsed his career scoring high with 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting at La Salle on Jan. 29 ... the Stirling, Scotland native is shooting a team-best 53.7 percent from the field ... he has posted double-doubles six times this season (10-11 at New Mexico, 11-10 vs. Lafayette, 15-11 at George Mason, 16-11 vs. UMBC, 23-11 at Dayton and 11-10 at Richmond) ... Saint Joseph's Dwayne Jones (13), La Salle's Steven Smith (10) and Fordham's Bryant Dunston (8) are the only A-10 players with more double-doubles than Achara ... the 6-9 forward/center has struggled as of late, averaging 6.0 ppg. with five single-digit outings in DU's last six games ... Achara has surpassed his blocked shot total from a year ago (33) with 43 ... he currently ranks second on DU's all-time shots blocked list with 76 (leader Derrick Alston had 229 between 1991-94) ... is shooting 56.2% (168-of-299) from the field for his career which is ahead of the school record of 56.1% set by Alston
• Martin Osimani needs one more 10-assist game for the school career record ... Osimani, who will be playing in his 57th career game at Fordham, shares the record for career 10 assist games with Clayton Adams who posted four in 109 career games between 1988-91 ... the Montevideo, Uruguay native currently ranks eighth on the Atlantic 10's career assists per game average list at 5.5 ... Osimani has scored a career-high 16 points twice (at New Mexico and vs. Lafayette) ... his career high entering the season was 11 ... Osimani, who is 34-of-38 from the line this season, saw a streak of 20 consecutive free throws made snapped vs. Youngstown State ... the JC transfer had a streak of 17 free throws made in a row last year ... he has attempted just three free throws in DU's last 10 games ... Osimani, who has a team-high 134 assists (2.1-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio), tied his career high with three 3-point field goals (in five attempts) at La Salle on Jan. 29 ... he finished the game with 9 points, a career-high 7 rebounds and 9 assists (and two turnovers) in 35 minutes of action ... in his last nine games, Osimani has handed out 49 assists with just 15 turnovers ... he is 11-of-26 (42.3%) from the 3-point arc in his last eight games including a clutch 3-pointer from the top of the key with 6.2 seconds left that gave the Dukes a 71-70 lead in the one-point loss at Richmond
• Senior guard Tyler Bluemling has scored 127 points in 27 games this season ... his career point total in 68 games entering this season was 153 ... he has 58 assists and 30 turnovers as the back-up at the point guard spot (1.9-to-1 ratio) and is second on the team with a career single-season high 31 3-point field goals ... he has handed out 32 assists with just 15 turnovers in Atlantic 10 games ... Bluemling 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) ... he added a career-high 5 assists in a start vs. George Washington and scored 10 more at Xavier in 25 turnover-free minutes ... he followed that with 9 points (all on 3-pointers), 5 assists and 0 turnovers vs. Dayton at home and posted a season-high 11 points (three 3-pointers) vs. La Salle on Feb. 23 ... broke out of a six-game 3-of-15 3-point shooting slump by going 3-of-5 from the arc vs. La Salle and followed that with a 2-of-4 performance from the arc on senior day vs. Richmond ... is shooting 40.8 percent (20-of-49) from 3-point in A-10 play
• Jack Higgins, who saw his streak of 36-straight games played ended when he missed the first three conference games due to pneumonia, scored a season-high 20 points (4-of-7 from 3-point) in 23 minutes vs. URI in his second game back ... he then scored 11 of the Dukes' first 12 points (15 overall) in returning to the starting lineup for the first time since late November vs. St. Bonaventure on Jan. 23 ... he added 19 points (6-of-13 from 3-point) in 18 minutes off the bench vs. Temple on Feb. 16 ... Higgins is shooting 41.8% from the 3-point arc (28-of-67) and averaging 12.1 ppg. since his return ... he saw a streak of 14 consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer snapped with an 0-of-1 performance from the arc on Sunday vs. Richmond ... Higgins, who finished with 16 assists in 23 games last season, handed out a career-high 9 - all in 14 second-half minutes - at Boston College on Dec. 22 ... to put the outburst in perspective, consider Higgins' next-highest assist game is 4 (at Richmond on Feb. 1)
• Freshman Chauncey Duke, who has just eight turnovers in 445 total minutes on the season, turned it over for the first time since the Dec. 11 UMBC game on Feb. 5 at Saint Joseph's ... his turnover-free streak spanned 10 games ... Duke, who has hit four 3-pointers in a game twice this season (in scoring a season high 12 vs. both North Carolina A&T and Temple), scored on a driving layup with :05 left in the second overtime to give the Dukes a 94-93 win at Dayton ... he added 9 points in 17 minutes off the bench vs. St. Bonaventure and 11 on 3-of-4 3-point shooting at Saint Joseph's ... his two free throws with 8 seconds left put the cap on DU's 77-72 win over La Salle on Feb. 23 ... Duke started the season 7-of-14 from the 3-point arc (seven g.), before going 1-of-14 from long distance in his next nine outings ... Duke ended a one-month drought by hitting his only 3-point attempt vs. St. Bonaventure on Jan. 23 and is 14-of-30 from the arc (46.7%) in his last nine games ... Duke missed mid-January conference games at Xavier and vs. Dayton with complications from a stomach virus
• Fellow freshman DeVario Hudson had started 13 of DU's 15 games prior to missing the Feb. 16 Temple game with food poisoning ... he made his return with eight points and six rebounds in 23 minutes at George Washington on Feb. 19 ... the Decatur, Ga. native ranks second on the team with a 5.0 rebounds per game average ... had his top game of the season with a career-high 20 points and a career high-tying 11 rebounds at Richmond ... it was his second double-double (12-11 vs. Akron) of the season
• Redshirt freshman Sean McKeon, who missed four late November-early December games with mononucleosis, made his first career start vs. Rhode Island (one rebound in 9 minutes) ... he also started on Feb. 16 vs. Temple ... is averaging 13.4 min./g. in conference play ... he scored 8 points in 14 minutes at Dayton on Jan. 5 and added a pair of blocked shots both vs. St. Bonaventure and at La Salle ... he scored 9 points in a season-high 25 minutes on Feb. 5 at Saint Joseph's ... his eight field goal attempts (4-of-8) vs. the Hawks were a season high ... added a season-high six boards in 18 minutes at GW
• JC transfer Keith Gayden had his top game of the season back on Nov. 24 with 15 points and 9 rebounds in a 72-69 loss to West Virginia ... all four of his double-digit scoring games came in the first 12 games of the season ... the Kennedy-King College product started five of the first eight games of the season before assuming his current role off the bench ... 48 of his 105 rebounds this season have come at the offensive end ... has pulled down a season high nine boards in two of his last four outings (vs. Temple and La Salle)
• Duquesne has used 12 different starting lineups, with all 11 scholarship players starting at least once
• Duquesne is 7-5 this season when scoring 70 or more points and 0-15 when scoring fewer than 70 ... when holding opponents under 70 points, the Dukes are 4-1 ... if you want to go five points higher, consider that DU is 6-0 when scoring 75 or more