12/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2009
CHUCK COOPER CLASSIC PRESENTED BY PNC BANK
SAVANNAH STATE (4-4) VS. DUQUESNE (5-2)
Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 • A.J. Palumbo Center (5,358) • Pittsburgh, Pa. • 3:30 p.m.
DUQUESNE RADIO: KQV-AM (1410) with Ray Goss & George Von Benko
STREAMING AUDIO: redzonemedia.com or GoDuquesne.com
STREAMING VIDEO AND GAMETRACKER: GoDuquesne.com
DUKES HOST SAVANNAH STATE: Duquesne (5-2), coming off a 67-58 double-overtime loss to crosstown rival Pittsburgh in the final game at Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena on Wednesday, returns to the Palumbo Center to face Savannah State (4-4) at 3:30 p.m. in the Chuck Cooper Classic presented by PNC Bank. The DU vs. SSU game is the second of a doubleheader that opens with West Virginia State hosting Davis & Elkins at 1:00 p.m. The legacy of Chuck Cooper, the first African-American player drafted by an NBA team, will be celebrated at halftime of the Savannah State game. Cooper, an All-American for the Dukes (1947-50), originally attended West Virginia State prior to enrolling at Duquesne following World War II. Cooper, who attended Pittsburgh's Westinghouse High School, made history by being drafted by the Boston Celtics in the first round on April 25, 1950. Duquesne saw a 16-point second-half lead disappear in the loss to Pitt. The Dukes, who went 9-of-41 (.220) from the field in the second half and overtime, did not trail in the game until the middle of the first overtime. Bill Clark (19.0 ppg.) led the Dukes with 23 points including a career-high 6 (6-of-14) 3-pointers. Three Dukes fouled out of the game including forward Damian Saunders. Saunders (15.1, 14.4) was whistled for his fifth foul with 3:02 left in regulation.
ON SAVANNAH STATE: The Tigers opened a stretch of five consecutive road games with a 59-51 loss at Bowling Green on Thursday night ... SSU led at the 4:00 mark only to see BGSU close the game with an 11-2 run to seal the victory ... Savannah State, which is now 0-2 on the road, was led by 5-10 senior guard Tracy Rankins who hit five 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 24 points. Six-seven sophomore Arnold Louis added 13 points and nine boards for the Tigers who trailed by two at the half ... Savannah State's opponents are averaging just 53.9 ppg. ... the only team to score over 60 was Georgetown in a 63-44 win on Nov. 21 ... SSU is forcing an average of 16.0 opponent turnovers per game.
DUQUESNE LATELY: Duquesne returns four starters from last year's 21-13 NIT team ... one of the key returnees, 6-3 sophomore Melquan Bolding, is out 4-6 weeks with a fractured wrist suffered in the opener ... Bolding had surgery on Nov. 17 ... DU's 21 wins last season were the most since the 1971 NCAA team went 21-4 ... DU, which has gone 10-19, 17-13 & 21-13 in three seasons under head coach Ron Everhart, is looking for its third consecutive winning campaign ... the last time that happened on the Bluff was from 1968-73 when Red Manning's Dukes finished above .500 six straight times ... Duquesne was coming off a 3-24 season, and hadn't finished above .500 since 1994, when Everhart took over in 2006-07 ... juniors Damian Saunders (second team) and Bill Clark (third team), both preseason All-Atlantic 10 picks, have led the way for the Dukes so far ... Saunders (15.1, 14.4) opened the season with six consecutive double-doubles before foul trouble limited him to six points, eight rebounds and five blocks in 32 minutes vs. Pitt ... Clark (19.0 ppg.) led DU with 23 points, including a career-high six 3-pointers.
RANDOM NOTES: Duquesne has gotten off to a 5-2 start on the strength of its defense which is allowing 64.1 ppg. ... the Dukes have held six of seven opponents under 40 percent from the field this season (.369 overall) ... sophomore B.J. Monteiro (13.3 ppg., .516 from the field) has been a pleasant surprise as a starter in place of the injured Melquan Bolding (out 4-6 weeks, wrist surgery) ... Bolding was injured in the season-opening win over Nicholls State ... junior forward Damian Saunders (15.1, 14.4) was the first Duquesne player in 39 years to open a season with six-straight double-doubles before notching six points, eight rebounds and five blocks in 32 minutes vs. Pitt ... Saunders fouled out with 3:02 left in regulation vs. the Panthers ... fellow junior Bill Clark is averaging 19.0 ppg. ... Clark shook off a two-game 2-of-14 3-point shooting slump to hit a career-high six from the arc (on 14 attempts) vs. Pitt ... Clark leads the Dukes with 20 3-pointers made ... the Dukes have been taken to overtime in two of their past four games (the other was a 75-72 win over Arkansas-Monticello in the CBE Classic on Nov. 24) ... the school record for overtime games in a season is four, done three times (1993-94 last) ... Duquesne is 2-1 against teams which appeared in last year's NCAA tournament (70-52 W over Binghamton, 71-63 W over Radford and 67-58 2OT loss to Pitt) ... there are two more 2009 NCAA tourney teams on the 2010 non-conference schedule (WVU and Robert Morris) ... the Dukes have held five of their first six opponents under 40 percent shooting ... Western Carolina is the only Duquesne opponent to shoot better than 40 percent from the field ... the Catamounts hit a school record 17 3-pointers on the way to shooting 45.5 percent in handing the Dukes their first loss ... DU has held second half leads in all seven games this season ... four different players have scored 20 or more in a game: Bill Clark (three times) and Damian Saunders, Melquan Bolding and B.J. Monteiro (once each) ... five active Dukes are averaging over 33 minutes per game (Bill Clark, 39.7, Damian Saunders, 36.3, Jason Duty, 36.0, Eric Evans, 34.7 and B.J. Monteiro, 33.0) ... DU is shooting just .277 from the 3-point arc on the young season ... Saunders (4-of-20) and sophomore Eric Evans (2-of-21) are a combined 6-of-41 from long distance ... Damian Saunders has already set new career highs for points (24 vs. Binghamton) and rebounds (19 vs. Nicholls State) and tied career-bests for blocks (6 vs. Radford) and steals (6 at Iowa) in DU's first six games ... Saunders leads the team with 13 dunks ... sophomore B.J. Monteiro, a former high school teammate of Saunders, has set a new career scoring high in two of his past four games (18 vs. Arkansas-Monticello & 21 vs. Radford) ... his career best entering the season was 12 (last year at Dayton) ... Jason Duty, a career .352 3-point shooter, is 1-of-9 from the arc in his past two games ... the Dukes, who are outscoring opponents 243-194 (+49) in the first half, have been outscored by four (234-230) in the second.
PITT LEFTOVERS: Duquesne, which led 40-24 with 17:01 left, went 9-of-41 (.220) in the second half and two overtimes ... three Dukes fouled out: Damian Saunders, Rodrigo Peggau an B.J. Monteiro ... Pitt went 23-of-42 from the line, including 17-of-34 in the second half and overtime ... Duquesne was 7-of-14 (4-of-7 in the second half and overtime) ... DU enjoyed a 13-5 advantage in points off turnovers ... Pitt did not take its first lead of the game until the 2:20 mark of the first overtime ... Bill Clark hit a career-high six 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 23 points ... Clark's previous career best was five (done once as a sophomore and earlier this season vs. Binghamton) ... redshirt freshman Rodrigo Peggau played a career-high 27 minutes ... he entered the game having played a total of 18 minutes in DU's previous six games ... Peggau had nine points and seven rebounds before fouling out in the second overtime ... the starting backcourt of Eric Evans (3-of-17) and Jason Duty (1-of-8) were a combined 4-of-25 (.160) from the field (1-of-13 from the 3-point arc) ... Saunders saw his season-opening streak of six consecutive double-doubles snapped ... he finished with six points, eight rebounds and a game-high five blocks in 32 minutes ... three Dukes played over 46 minutes or more: Duty (49), Clark (46) and Evans (46).
