March 7, 2009

Box Score

DAYTON, OHIO - Luke Fabrizius scored 15 of his career-high 17 points, including five 3-pointers, in the first half to propel Dayton to a 74-61 win over Duquesne at UD Arena.

Fabrizius, whose previous career high was 11 - set in Dayton's 78-69 win at Pittsburgh on Jan. 17 - hit four of his career-high five 3-pointers in the final 4:02 of the first half to break open a tight game.

Aaron Jackson led Duquesne with 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Bill Clark and B.J. Monteiro added 12 each for the Dukes who shot 38.6 percent from the field including 5-of-25 from the 3-point arc.

The win upped Dayton's (25-6, 11-5) home winning streak to 20 games and secured a No. 3 seed and first round bye for the Flyers at the Atlantic 10 Championship to be played in Atlantic City, N.J. March 11-14. Duquesne, which could have secured a bye with a win, fell into a four-way tie for fifth in the league and will be seeded No. 7 in Atlantic City.

Duquesne tied the game at 30-30 on an Oliver Lewinson tip-in with 4:24 to go before Fabrizius began a 19-6 run with his second 3-pointer of the game. He added three more 3-pointers and Charles Little added four of his 10 points to give the Flyers a 49-36 lead at the half.

Duquesne would get no closer than 10 the rest of the way as the Dayton lead ballooned to as many as 23 in the second half.

"I thought we had him guarded pretty well," said Duquesne head coach Ron Everhart of Fabrizius. "He just caught it, turned, and shot it. We didn't have an answer, shooting as poorly as we did. We had some good looks in the first half, but it seemed every time we missed one they came down the floor and scored an easy one."

Dayton, which hit 8-of-12 3-point attempts in the first half, shot 50.0 percent for the game. The Flyers outrebounded the Dukes 41-32.

There were eight ties and four lead changes before the Fabrizius-led run at the end of the first half.

Seventh-seeded Duquesne opens play at the 2009 Atlantic 10 Championship in Atlantic City, N.J. on Wednesday, March 11 vs. No. 10 seed Massachusetts (12-17). Game time is set for 6:30 p.m.

NOTES
• Duquesne, picked to finish 12th in a preseason poll of Atlantic 10 coaches and media, finished in a four-way tie for fifth with a 9-7 record. It marks just the fourth time in 32 seasons that the Dukes finished league play above .500. DU's nine wins are the most since the 1991 team finished 10-8.
• With his three steals, Damian Saunders upped his season total to 66 and moved into second on DU's single-season steals list. The school record is 70 set by Clayton Adams in 1988.
• With his seven assists, Aaron Jackson upped his season total to 168 and moved into third on DU's single-season assist list. He trails only Norm Nixon (178 in 1977) and Martin Osimani (172 in 2004) on DU's all-time single-season list.
• B.J. Monteiro's 12 points were a career high, eclipsing his previous best of eight set at UMass. His 24 minutes played were also a career-best.