Feb. 3, 2007

Box Score |

OLEAN, N.Y. - Kieron Achara led six Duquesne players in double figures with 25 points as the red hot Dukes extended their winning streak to four in a 111-92 win at St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon.

The 111 points, in addition to being DU's highest point total in 16 years, also established a new school record for points in a road game.

The 19-point margin of victory, which was the largest ever for a Duquesne team in an Atlantic 10 road game, moved the Dukes to 9-11 overall and 5-4 in the Atlantic 10. St. Bonaventure, playing before a season-largest home crowd of 4,922 on Homecoming, dropped to 6-16 overall and 3-6 in league play.

The last time a Duquesne team was above .500 this late in the conference season was in 1993-94 when DU went 17-13 and 8-8 in the Atlantic 10 on the way to earning an NIT berth.

Duquesne, playing its fifth game since adopting a running, full court pressing style of play, shot 51.8 percent from the field and saw nine of the 10 players who saw action combine for a season-high 14 3-pointers.

The 2006-07 Dukes, who topped the 90-point mark in wins over Dayton, Temple and Xavier during the current win streak, are the first team in school history to score 90 or more in four consecutive games.

"I'm very proud of this team," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. "Its not often that you can change gears in the middle of a season and have guys buy in to it. Our guys are excited and it feels good to be excited. Any time you can go on the road in our league and hang 111 on someone, that's a pretty good deal."

Duquesne broke open a four-point game by outscoring the Bonnies 15-5 over the final 3:32 of the first half to take a 55-41 lead.

The Dukes upped the lead to 17 in the first four minutes of the second half and maintained a double-digit advantage until St. Bonaventure's Tyler Relph cut the lead to nine on a 3-pointer with 9:47 left. Relph added another 3-pointer to make the score 83-77 at the 7:28 mark before Duquesne answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Achara and Gary Tucker to start a 14-2 run and give the Dukes a 97-79 lead with 5:29 to go.

Achara hit one of two free throws with 3:32 remaining to put Duquesne at the 100-point mark for the first time since a 102-92 win over Radford on Jan. 4, 1997.

Aaron Jackson, who finished with 19 points and six assists, hit two free throws with 31 seconds left to break the previous school record for points in a road game set in a 109-66 win at Geneva on Feb. 18, 1953.

Tucker went 6-of-6 from the field in adding 14. Robert Mitchell (13 points), Scott Grote (11 points) and Reggie Jackson (10 points) were Duquesne's other double digit scorers.

Michael Lee and Zarryon Fereti led St. Bonaventure with 23 points each. Michael Lee added 20 for the Bonnies.

Achara, who scored 16 of his 25 in the second half, went 3-of-5 from the 3-point arc in eclipsing his previous career high of 24 set at La Salle two year's ago. The 6-10 Stirling, Scotland native added 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and tenth of his career.

"I thought Kieron was tremendous today," said Everhart. "This was by far his best effort and performance of the year. He was credited with two blocks, but must have altered a dozen more. He also shot the ball extremely well."

Duquesne turned the ball over just 11 times and forced 17 turnovers in holding St. Bonaventure to an opponent season low 38.4 percent from the field.

Duquesne's 111 points, in addition to being most scored by a DU team in 96 all-time games versus St. Bonaventure, were the most in any game since a 114-107 win over Iona on Jan. 22, 1991 at Madison Square Garden.

Duquesne, which has won four consecutive conference games for the first time since 1987-88, returns to action at La Salle on Wednesday, Feb. 7.