Nov. 29, 2009

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PITTSBURGH - B.J. Monteiro scored a career-high 21 points and Damian Saunders added his sixth consecutive double-double with 14 points and 16 rebounds to lead Duquesne to a 71-63 win over Radford at the Palumbo Center.

Monteiro and Saunders overshadowed an outstanding performance by 6-11, 260-pound Radford center Artsiom Parakhouski who finished with 26 points and 20 rebounds.

The win was the fifth for the Dukes, who finished the month of November 5-1. Radford dropped to 2-2.

Bill Clark added 14 points for the Dukes. Eric Evans had 11 points, six assists and four steals. Saunders, who also had four assists and three steals, tied his career high with six blocks. He is the first Duquesne player to open a season with six-straight double-doubles since Lionel Billingy did it in December of 1971.

"We entered the game thinking we'd have to remain athletic and fast," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart. "We wanted to force misses and make them run. We wanted to make sure they had to change ends."

Duquesne led 17-10 before going scoreless for six minutes as Radford took a 19-17 lead on a Parakhouski put back with 3:37 left in the half. The bucket gave the Minsk, Belarus native his fourth double-double in as many games. The Dukes answered with a Saunders swooping put back of a Jason Duty 3-point miss to tie the game at the 3:12 mark. Monteiro, Duty and Oliver Lewinson followed with buckets as the Dukes - despite going 0-of-10 from the 3-point arc - took a 26-21 lead at the half.

Duquesne upped its lead to 50-38 on a Monteiro layup with 10:47 left, before once again hitting a drought, going scoreless for over 2:30 before Saunders ended a 7-0 Highlanders run with a free throw at the 8:14 mark. Duquesne went up 64-54 on a Monteiro tip in with 2:55 left and took a 14-point lead on a Clark layup with under 1:30 remaining. Radford scored the final four points for the final margin.

The Dukes, who finished 3-of-20 from the 3-point arc, held Radford to 35.9 percent shooting. It is the fifth time in six games DU has held its opponent under 40 percent. Duquesne assisted on 15 of its 25 field goals.

"We didn't shoot it very well, but we passed the ball better today than we have in the past," said Everhart. "This was a good win over a very good team."

DU outscored RU 23-9 off turnovers and 14-4 in fast break points.

Duquesne returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 2 against Pitt (5-1) in the final college basketball game at Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena. The game, which will be televised nationally by CBS College Sports, is set for a 7:00 p.m. start,

NOTES

• Duquesne has now won five in a row over Radford and leads the overall series 5-1.

• Damian Saunders' double-double (14-16) was the 13th of his career and sixth in as many games this season. The last Duquesne player to post six-straight double-doubles was Bruce Atkins who did it 10 times during the 1980-81 season. The last player to post six double-doubles to open a season was Lionel Billingy who did it in his first six games at Duquesne as a sophomore in December of 1971.

• B.J. Monteiro scored a career-high 21, eclipsing his previous career best of 18 set two games ago vs. Arkansas-Monticello ... Monteiro is averaging 14.4 ppg. and 6.0 rpg. and shooting .545 from the field since joining the starting lineup (past five games) after Melquan Bolding's wrist injury in the opener ... Monteiro set the new career scoring high despite going 1-of-7 from the foul line ... Monteiro's eight boards vs. Radford were also a career best.

• Six-five junior Bill Clark blocked Parakhouski's first field goal attempt 45 seconds into the game.