March 1, 2009
Box Score
PITTSBURGH - Kahiem Seawright and Keith Cothran scored 21 and 20 points respectively as Rhode Island survived a late-game onslaught from Duquesne's Aaron Jackson to defeat the Dukes 73-71 at the Palumbo Center.
Jackson, who scored 16 of DU's final 20 points, saw his 3-point attempt glance off the front rim as time expired as the Dukes fell to 17-10 overall and into a three-way tie for fifth in the Atlantic 10 with Saint Louis and Saint Joseph's at 8-6.
The win was the sixth in a row for Rhode Island which moved to 22-8 overall and one-half game behind league-leading Xavier in the Atlantic 10 with an 11-4 record.
Jackson, who was honored before the game as part of Duquesne's Senior Day ceremonies, finished with a game-high 24 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals. Melquan Bolding added 16 and Damian Saunders had 12 points, six rebounds, four blocks and three steals for the Dukes who went 6-of-28 from the 3-point arc.
"We just couldn't make a shot from the perimeter in the last three minutes or so - and they made us pay for it," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart.
There were eight ties and three lead changes before Duquesne went on a 6-0 run to take a 40-34 lead at the half. Freshmen B. J. Monteiro and Bolding fueled the run with two Monteiro free throws and a jumper sandwiched around a Bolding bucket.
Duquesne, which was 2-of-12 from the 3-point arc in the first half, made three 3-pointers in the opening four minutes of the second half to take a 51-45 lead. URI, which hit nine of its first 10 shots of the half, took a 55-54 lead on a Seawright layup with 13:21 to go. Marquis Jones capped a 13-1 run with a layup to make it 60-54 at the 11:29 mark.
Jackson cut the lead to two on a driving layup with 2:28 to go and tied the game at 66-66 with a jumper in the lane at the two minute mark.
Seawright, who scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half, hit a pair of free throws to put URI up two and Delroy James added a driving four-footer with 1:10 left to double the lead.
Jackson then poked the ball away from Baron and scored on a streaking layup to make it 70-68 with 36 seconds left.
Seawright answered with a dunk and Keith Cothran hit one of two free throws to give URI a 73-68 lead with 12 seconds remaining.
Jackson drilled a 3-pointer six seconds later and the Dukes regained possession when Seawright missed the front end of a one-and-one with five seconds left. URI, which was three fouls under the limit, fouled the Dukes twice before a final inbounds play with 1.6 seconds left. Jackson took the pass at the top of the key, turned and shot, and the ball glanced off the front rim as time expired. Duquesne shot 43.5 percent, while Rhode Island - which shot 66.7 percent in the second half - finished at 52.6 percent.
Duquesne concludes the home season on Wednesday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m. against Saint Louis (17-11, 8-6) and completes the regular-season portion of the schedule on Saturday, March 7 at Dayton (24-5, 10-4).
NOTES
•Jason Duty and Bill Clark, who entered the game ranked third and fifth respectively in the A-10 in 3-point shooting percentage, were a combined 1-of-10 from the arc. Eric Evans, who was 4-of-5 from the arc in Wednesday's win at UMass, went 0-of-6 from 3-point.
