Jan. 17, 2009
Box Score | Photo Gallery 1
PITTSBURGH - Rob Lowery led five players in double figures with 16 points as Dayton used a 10-2 second half run and some stingy defense to pull away for a 78-69 win over Duquesne at the Palumbo Center.
The loss snapped a seven-game win streak for Duquesne which dropped to 12-5 overall. The loss was also the first in Atlantic 10 play for the Dukes, who opened with a school best three consecutive conference victories.
Dayton moved to 16-2 overall and 2-1 in the A-10 with the win.
Bill Clark led Duquesne with 19 points. Duquesne's leading scorer, Aaron Jackson, added 18. Jackson, who missed two days of practice after suffering a bruised tailbone in Wednesday's win over George Washington and was questionable up until tipoff, was held to two points in the second half.
Chris Wright had 15 points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes for UD.
There were six ties and 10 lead changes in the first half that ended with Dayton up 39-38.
The Flyers, who held the lead for the entire second half, scored eight unanswered points following intermission to build a 47-38 cushion. Duquesne cut it to three on a David Theis tip-in with 8:41 to go before Lowery started Dayton's 10-2 run with a 3-pointer. Eric Evans answered with a driving layup. Marcus Johnson then hit a jumper and Luke Fabrizius, who finished with a career-high 11 points, hit one of his three 3-pointers to put Dayton up 64-55. Chris Johnson then capped the run with a dunk to make it 66-55 with 4:31 to go.
The Chris Johnson dunk was one of four over the next two minutes as the Flyers built the lead to 74-63 with 2:02 to go.
Duquesne got no closer than seven in the game's final moments.
Dayton held Duquesne to 37.5 percent shooting while converting 68.2 percent of its shots in the second half.
"We got beat by a better ballclub," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. "They were deeper and more disciplined. They kept running and we got sloppy defensively. You have to give Dayton credit. We forced 24 turnovers, but they didn't get panicky."
Jackson, who entered the game as the nation's top shooting guard at 58.7 percent, went 7-of-13 from the field and had four assists, but was only able to manage one rebound and turned over a season high-tying six times in 37 minutes.
"Aaron didn't rebound as well as he usually does and he wasn't able to guard like he can," said Everhart. "He was banged up, but as a senior, we owed it to him to see if he could play through it. Good things usually happen when he has the ball in his hands."
Duquesne begins a stretch of six of nine games on the road at Saint Joseph's (8-7, 2-0 - hosts Charlotte on Sunday) on Wednesday, Jan. 21. The game, set for a 7:00 p.m. tip, will be played at Philadelphia's historic Palestra which is serving as SJU's temporary home due to renovation work being done to SJU's Alumni Fieldhouse.
NOTES
• Dayton's bench outscored Duquesne's 43-8. Starters Bill Clark (19 points), Aaron Jackson (18 points) and Damian Saunders (13 points) combined for 50 of DU's 69 points.
• Freshmen Melquan Bolding and Eric Evans were a combined 3-of-18 from the field. Bolding, who was coming off a career-high 26 point game against George Washington, was 2-of-10 for five points. Evans was 1-of-8 in scoring four points.
