Feb. 13, 2008
Box Score
DAYTON, OHIO -- Aaron Jackson scored 17 points and Shawn James hit two big 3-pointers in the closing minutes as Duquesne clinched its first winning season since 1993-94 with a 63-61 win at Dayton.
The victory marked the first time since 1993 & 1996 that the Dukes (16-7, 6-4) have defeated Dayton (16-7, 4-6) in consecutive meetings. DU handed the Flyers a 93-89 defeat at Pittsburgh last year.
Brian Roberts led Dayton, which lost for the sixth time in its past eight games, with 22 points.
The game was tied at 55-55 when Damian Saunders scored off a pass from Kojo Mensah to make it 57-55 with 4:02 to go.
James and Roberts then exchanged 3-pointers before James stepped out again and hit a second 3-pointer from the top of the key to put the Dukes up five with 1:51 to go.
Charles Little hit one of two free throws at the 1:17 mark to cut the lead to four. With under a minute left, James was called for an offensive foul setting up a Marcus Johnson layup that made it 63-61.
After three consecutive timeouts, Duquesne inbounded the ball to James who threw a long pass to a streaking Gary Tucker that went out of bounds with 17 seconds left.
On the Flyers' final possession, Duquesne, not intimidated by playing in front of its largest crowd of the season (13,040), prevented Dayton from getting a good look as Andres Sandoval's 24-foot 3-point attempt with four seconds left glanced off the rim and was corralled by DU's Gary Tucker as time expired.
"We guarded them for 17 seconds on that final possession," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart who notched his 200th career win. "Dayton is a hard team to do that to."
Duquesne, which trailed by 12 early, cut the lead to five at the half. The Dukes tied the game for the first time on a Saunders jumper four minutes into the second half.
Neither team led by more than four until James hit his first of the two 3-pointers at the 2:29 mark.
"We couldn't get better shots than that," said Everhart of James' 3-pointers. "Their big men were so concerned with keeping our guards from turning the corner that that was the shot they were giving us. We ran a pick-and-pop play twice."
"I'm tired of saying `these are games we should have had,'" said James referring to a two-point loss at Rhode Island and one-point loss at Fordham in mid-January. "This kind of atmosphere gets you motivated, it gets you pumped. This shows we can compete with anyone on any night."
Duquesne won despite shooting just 40.6 percent from the field. The Dukes forced 17 turnovers and outscored the Flyers 19-7 in points off turnovers, including 12-0 in the second half. Dayton, which shot 64 percent in the first half, was held to 37.5 percent in the second and finished the game at 51.0 percent. The Flyers went 6-of-17 from the foul line while Duquesne hit four it its five free throws.
Aaron Jackson and Gary Tucker had three steals each as the Dukes finished with 11. Aaron Jackson led DU with six rebounds.
DU centers Kieron Achara and James finished with 12 and 11 points respectively. Mensah and Reggie Jackson had seven assists each as the Dukes turned it over a season low-tying eight times.
Duquesne, in the midst of a stretch of five of seven games on the road, returns home to face Richmond (12-10, 5-4) on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
NOTES
• This is only the third time in the 48-game series that the Dukes have defeated the Flyers in back-to-back games. The others were in 1975 & 1976 and 1993 (when both were members of the MCC) & 1996 (the first meeting between the two with Dayton as a member of the Atlantic 10).
• The Dukes have now won two of the past three meetings at UD Arena (Duquesne won 94-93 in double overtime on Jan. 5, 2005).
• Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart, who notched his 200th career win, also evened his record at Duquesne at 26-26.
