Jan. 7, 2009

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PITTSBURGH - On a night that saw him become Duquesne's 32nd 1,000-point scorer, Aaron Jackson capped his 100th career game with 30 points and some big late-game plays to lead the Dukes to a 76-71 win over Charlotte in the Atlantic 10 opener for both schools.

With the game tied at 69-69, Jackson scored on a driving layup to give the Dukes a two-point lead with 1:22 to go. Jackson then came up with a steal on Charlotte's next possession and rifled a 25-foot pass to Damian Saunders who hit a twisting layup to give the Dukes a four-point advantage. Jackson then hit three free throws over the final 24 seconds for the final margin.

"When we came out of that timeout [with 1:27 remaining] I said to Aaron `you gotta bring us home,'" said Bill Clark who finished with 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds in posting his second career double-double.

Duquesne held Charlotte to two points over the last 5:19.

"I was pleased with the way we finished the game," said Duquesne coach Ron Everhart. "We executed well down the stretch. Damian [Saunders] and Billy [Clark] came up big on the glass and Aaron leaves here with 30 points and six assists - that's an all-league performance."

The win, Duquesne's fifth in a row, upped the Dukes' record to 10-4, while Charlotte dropped to 5-8 overall. It was Duquesne's first Atlantic 10 win over the 49ers, who joined the conference prior to the 2005-06 season.

Saunders (12-11) posted his third double-double of the season for the Dukes with 12 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 48 seconds left. Jason Duty hit three 3-pointers in adding 10 for DU.

Charlie Coley III led Charlotte with 17 points. Ian Andersen and Lamont Mack added 15 each for the 49ers.

The first half, which featured two ties and seven lead changes ended 35-35, when Coley III, who entered the game 0-of-11 from the 3-point arc for his career, converted a four-point play with seven seconds left to tie it. Coley, a senior, banked in an off-balance 3-pointer from the top of the key while being fouled. The play helped erase Duquesne's largest lead of the half at 35-28 with 1:42 left.

There were five more ties and six lead changes in the second half before Jackson's late layup gave the Dukes the lead for good.

Duquesne, which finished with eight turnovers, turned it over just three times in the second half. The Dukes shot 42.6 percent to 38.2 percent for Charlotte.

Duquesne plays its first Atlantic 10 road game Saturday at St. Bonaventure (10-4, 1-0). The game, set for a 4:00 p.m. tip, will be the 100th meeting between the two schools.

NOTES
• With his first free throw at the 13:48 mark of the first half, Aaron Jackson became the 32nd member of Duquesne's 1,000-point club ... Jackson, who has played in 100 consecutive games (every game of his career), has 1,022 points (ranks 30th on DU's all-time list), 396 assists (ranks 5th all-time) and 145 steals (ranks 8th all-time) ... his 30 points marked the second-highest scoring game of his career, second only to a 36-point outing at Radford on Dec. 10.
• The victory gives Duquesne double-digit wins for the third time in three seasons under Ron Everhart. The last time DU put together three-straight double-digit win seasons was between 1990-91 and 1994-95 (five times all under John Carroll).
• This is the fourth winning streak of five or more games put together by Duquesne under Ron Everhart ... DU won five in a row in 2006-07, opened last year with six-straight wins and also had another five-game streak in `08... Duquesne's last six game win streak prior to Everhart's arrival was in 1980-81 ... Everhart's teams now own four of the 10 longest winning streaks posted by Duquesne teams since 1969-70.