Dec. 16, 2006

Box Score

Niagara University, NY - Duquesne rallied from a 12-point second half deficit and had a chance to tie the game with under five seconds left, but came up short in a 78-74 loss at Niagara.

The loss, DU's seventh in a row, dropped the Dukes to 2-7, while Niagara posted its first home win of the season in upping its record to 2-6.

Clif Brown led Niagara with 20 points. He was joined in double figures by J.R. Duffey and Tyrone Lewis with 17 and 16 points respectively. Stanley Hodge added a game-high 10 assists and Duffey had 11 rebounds for the Purple Eagles.

Freshman Robert Mitchell paced Duquesne with 26 points and eight rebounds. Kieron Achara, in his third game back from stress fractures in his foot, scored 13 of his 17 in the second half and added seven boards for the Dukes.

DU, which trailed 55-43 four minutes into the second half, rallied behind 51.7 percent second half shooting to cut the Niagara lead to two with 22 seconds left. On the Dukes final possession, Aaron Jackson, who finished the game with 13 points and six assists without a turnover, drove to the bucket and saw his layup attempt roll off the rim with 4.7 seconds remaining. Brown rebounded the miss and was fouled. He hit both free throws for the final margin.

"I thought we played well enough to win," said Duquesne coach Ron Everhart. "We had our opportunities, we just didn't find a way to win. I'm proud of our effort, but you can't turn it over 19 times and give up 19 offensive rebounds. We were lucky to be in the game with those kinds of numbers."

For the fourth-straight game, Duquesne fell victim to its own mistakes as the Purple Eagles converted 19 DU turnovers into 23 points. The Dukes managed just eight points off of NU's eight miscues.

Duquesne was outrebounded by nine in a first half that saw eight ties and two lead changes. DU led 19-11 at the 11:03 mark before Niagara cut the lead to two on a Lewis 3-pointer at the 8:12 mark. Neither team led by more than six before NU closed out the half with a 7-0 run to take a 42-35 lead.

The Purple Eagles took a 12-point lead on Hodge's three-point play with 16:10 to go before Mitchell and Achara combined to score Duquesne's next 13 points as DU cut the lead to 58-56 with 11:36 to go.

Niagara led by seven with just under three minutes to play before the Dukes cut the lead to two three times and to one once in the final 1:04.

"We turned the ball over too much," said Everhart. "Everyone did it today - everyone but Aaron Jackson - and that just kills you. We gave them 11 extra possessions with our turnovers and still had a chance to tie it at the end."

Duquesne, which had one more field goal than Niagara, outshot the Purple Eagles 48.3 percent to 38.9 percent. DU also rallied to win the rebounding battle 40-39.

Duquesne, in the midst of a five game road stretch, returns to action on Friday, Dec. 22 at Saint Francis, Pa. The Saint Francis game is the Dukes' last prior to Christmas.